About This Stamp
Let it snow! This holiday season the U.S. Postal Service issues five festive snowflake stamps at the Presorted Standard rate for bulk mail users.
The five stamps each features a photograph of a different snowflake. Although they are all the same type of snowflake — stellar dendrites, with six branching, treelike arms — the five look entirely different. Each snowflake is set against a background of colors that range from icy blues and purples at the tops to white at the bottoms. Along the bottom of each stamp are the words “Presorted Standard."
Even though photographer Kenneth Libbrecht works in cold conditions outdoors, he has to move quickly to capture the shape of fallen snowflakes before they melt. Using a paintbrush, he transfers the snowflakes from a cardboard collecting surface to a glass slide that is inserted into a high-resolution microscope. He snaps his photographs with a digital camera attached to the microscope.
Winter is long. Brighten it up by using the beautiful, ethereal Snowflakes stamps for the holidays and beyond.
William J. Gicker was the art director. Jennifer Arnold designed the stamps using existing photographs by Libbrecht.
The Snowflakes stamps are being issued at the Presorted Standard rate in self-adhesive coils of 10,000.
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.