The Love stamp was issued on January 26, 1973, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the City of Brotherly Love. The USPS didn’t call it a Love stamp and didn’t see it as the start of a new series. They called it A Special Stamp for Someone Special. They printed more than 320 million stamps. When the first-class postage rate was raised the following year, the USPS received many requests to issue the stamp at the new rate, but they didn’t.
Requests for another Love stamp began to pour into the USPS. Finally, in 1982, they released a second stamp, with the word Love spelled out in flowers. Two years later, the third stamp was released. Like the stamp before it, these Love issues weren’t considered part of series, and were issued in higher quantities and available for longer lengths of time than standard commemoratives. As the USPS described it, the stamps were “not just for Valentine’s Day, but for special occasions throughout the year, such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and letters to loved ones.”
Love-themed stamps continued in this way until 1987. That year the USPS officially announced that they would issue a new Love stamp every year. By the following year, annual production of Love stamps neared one billion. 1988 also marked an interesting first. It was that year that the USPS first issued two Love stamps. One was for the one-ounce first-class rate and the other for the two-ounce rate. Love stamps had become popular on Wedding invitations, so this gave couples the opportunity to use matching stamps on their invitations and RSVP envelopes. In 2006, the USPS issued the first stamps specifically designated for Weddings.
The Love series continues to be popular today, with both Love and Wedding stamps issued on a regular basis.