About This Stamp
In 2018, the U.S. Postal Service® issued a new stamp celebrating one of the most popular roses of all time: the Peace rose.
The stamp art features a photograph of a beautiful Peace rose blossom. The close-up shows details of the creamy yellow petals touched at the edges with pink.
Development of what was to become the Peace rose began with a famous rose-breeding family in mid-1930s France. In 1935, the Meilland family had crossbred hundreds of roses hoping to create new commercially viable varieties. One of the crosses yielded a unique bloom with yellow petals delicately edged with pink, which they named Madame A. Meilland. Years later, as World War II escalated in Europe and France was threatened with invasion, two packages of the new rose’s budwood were sent to plantsmen in Germany and Italy. A third package was entrusted to the U.S. consul, who took it with him as he left France promising to send it on to American grower Conard-Pyle. This U.S. breeder cultivated the rose and sent cuttings to other growers to test the plant in various climatic zones and soil conditions. The trials were so successful that the rose was introduced on April 29, 1945, and made available for sale to the public. With war still raging across the globe, American growers selected a new name for the rose as a reflection of the world’s most fervent desire: peace.
Peace has become one of the most popular roses in history. It revolutionized hybrid tea roses with its unique coloring, hardiness, and disease resistance. Peace has been the parent of hundreds of popular hybrids, and millions of the original variety have been planted in gardens worldwide.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp, which features an existing photograph taken by Richard C. Baer.
Peace Rose was issued as a Forever® stamp in booklets of 20 and in coils of 3,000 and 10,000. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Designer, and Typographer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.