About This Stamp
The Colorado hairstreak butterfly graces the eighth non-machineable butterfly stamp for use on irregularly sized envelopes, such as square greeting cards, invitations, or announcements.
The stamp art was digitally created using images of preserved butterflies as a starting point. The result is a highly stylized, simplified image of a Colorado hairstreak rather than an exact replica.
The shimmering purple Colorado hairstreak butterfly (Hypaurotis crysalus) dwells in the forest canopy of that state and much of the Southwest. Never venturing far from its host plant, the Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), it feeds on tree sap and fallen raindrops.
The Colorado hairstreak — Colorado’s official state insect — has slender, hair-like, hind-wing appendages that resemble antennae. Nearby, on the underside of the wings, are spots that look like eyes and the thin streaks that give the hairstreak its name. Pointing its abdomen upward with false antennae held high, the butterfly’s evolutionary decoys fool predators into attacking the false head on the wing. A hungry bird ends up with an unsatisfying beakful of scaly wing.
In autumn, after mating, the female lays her eggs. The plump, green caterpillar hatches in spring and feeds on tender new oak leaves. After metamorphosis, the Colorado hairstreak butterfly, with a wingspan of about 1½ inches, darts in and out of the tree branches in quick, erratic flight.
The square format of the stamp was developed in partnership with the greeting card industry specifically for oversized or square envelopes. These envelopes cannot pass through the automated Postal processing system and have to be hand-cancelled. They are charged a non-machineable surcharge even if they weigh less than one ounce. Any non-machineable envelope, like oddly shaped or vertical envelopes, as well as lumpy envelopes, rigid envelopes, or mail with clasps, ribbons, or buttons, may use this stamp.
Colorado Hairstreak is available in sheets of twenty. The words “NON-MACHINEABLE SURCHARGE” on the stamp indicate its usage value. Like a Forever® stamp, this stamp will always be valid for the rate printed on it.
Nationally known artist Tom Engeman created the stamp art. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp.
Stamp Art Director
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Tom Engeman
Nationally acclaimed artist Tom Engeman, a resident of Kensington, Maryland, is well known for his poster and stamp designs. The winner of numerous design awards, he lists among his career accomplishments being the first art director for Washingtonian magazine, designing Historic Preservation magazine, and creating posters for the Metro, Washington’s new subway system, which were stolen as soon as they went up.
Among his many designs for the U.S. Postal Service are the Liberty Bell Forever® stamp, 60 stamps for the Flags of Our Nation series that began in 2008, and eight butterfly-themed stamps, the first issued in 2010, intended for use on large greeting card envelopes and other mail of nonstandard shapes and sizes. Engeman's most recent butterfly stamp design is Colorado Hairstreak (2021).