About This Stamp
A colorful African daisy graces a Global stamp from the U.S. Postal Service. This round Global stamp can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail International® service is available. As with all Global stamps, this stamp will have a postage value equivalent to the price of the single-piece First-Class Mail International first-ounce machineable letter in effect at the time of use.
The stamp art is a photograph of an orange African daisy. The photo was shot from above and shows the detail of the central disk formed by tiny tubular florets surrounded by petal-like ray florets.
Native to southern Africa, Osteospermum — called the African daisy — is widely available in U.S. nurseries and makes a gorgeous addition to any garden. The flowers open in the morning sun, with blooms in a variety of colors, including purple, pink, yellow, orange, and white. Some of the flowers have smooth, flat petals like a typical daisy, while others have petals that each radiate out into a shape like a spoon.
Where summers are cooler, African daisies bloom abundantly from spring to fall frost. In climates with hot, humid summers, the flowers bloom well in spring to early summer, but they decline rapidly in high summer heat. Some varieties rebloom in fall when cooler temperatures return.
The bright blossoms attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.
Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an existing photograph by Cindy Dyer. William Gicker was the art director.
Stamp Art Director
William Gicker
William Gicker served as Director of Stamp Services for the U.S. Postal Service from 2020 until his retirement in 2023. In that position he oversaw stamp development, stamp products and exhibitions, stamp manufacturing, stamp fulfillment, and the Postmaster General’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC).
Gicker began working for the U.S. Postal Service in 1998. Initially assistant editor of USA Philatelic, the quarterly stamp catalog produced by Stamp Services, he soon became editor where he oversaw the catalog’s award-winning program until 2013.
Named creative director of stamps in 2001, Gicker became manager and creative director of Stamp Development in 2015. Working closely with Postal Service art directors and CSAC, he managed the creative development and quality control of more than 800 stamp issuances and 1,700 individual stamp designs.
He has served as art director for some of the most popular stamps issued by the Postal Service: the five-year Art of Disney series; Star Wars; Holy Family; Harry Potter; and Hot Wheels. As both art director and designer, Gicker lists among his many stamps, Holiday Baubles; the first international rate Global stamp in 2013; and the Gifts of Friendship joint issuance with Japan. He was also art director for the first stamp to celebrate Diwali, eight more Global Forever® stamps, and several Christmas Madonna and Child issuances, the most recent in 2024.
A native of Pennsylvania, Gicker graduated from West Chester University with a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature. He and his family live in Washington, DC.
Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Existing Photograph By
Cindy Dyer
Cindy Dyer was born in Selma, Alabama, and lived in Texas and Louisiana before settling in the Washington, D.C. area. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be an artist, an ambition encouraged by her parents. After graduating with a degree in graphic arts from The University of Texas-Pan American (now The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) in 1982, she worked in various areas of the arts, including fashion illustration, advertising, and window display.
In 1989, Dyer opened her own design and photography studio, working primarily with trade and professional associations, publishing firms, and small businesses. Clients have included the American Horticulture Society, Hearing Loss Association of America, and the Association for Women in Mathematics. Her photographs have appeared in American Photo, Shutterbug Magazine, Relix, Country Weekly, The Old Farmers Almanac, and Celebrate Home Magazine, among others. Her garden photography is featured online in Nikon’s Learn & Explore series.
Dyer’s favorite place to shoot is in the garden. Her botanical photography produces luminous close-ups that bring details of flowers, plants, and insects to life.
Her projects for the U.S. Postal Service® include Ferns (2015), Water Lilies (2015), Orchids (2020), and African Daisy (2022).
A dedicated gardener, Dyer can be found outside when not immersed in her design work or her many other creative pursuits. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.