O Beautiful is a 2018 USPS pane of 20 Forever stamps featuring 20 different photographs of American landscapes. The five rows correspond to five phrases from the first verse of “America the Beautiful”: Spacious Skies, Waves of Grain, Mountain Majesties, The Fruited Plain and Sea to Shining Sea.
Issue at a Glance
| Issue name | O Beautiful |
|---|---|
| Issue date | July 4, 2018 |
| First-day city | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Format | Pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 |
| Design count | 20 different photographs |
| USPS item | 565300 |
| Art director and designer | Ethel Kessler |
| Postage class | First-Class Mail Forever |
How the 20 Designs Are Organized
The pane is not a four-design booklet. Each stamp is different, and each row forms a visual chapter based on the song. The arrangement makes an intact pane more informative than a random group of singles.
- Spacious Skies: Death Valley, Three Fingers Mountain, a Kansas field and Great Smoky Mountains.
- Waves of Grain: wheat and agricultural landscapes in Wisconsin, Washington, California and Montana.
- Mountain Majesties: Yosemite, Crater Lake, Monument Valley and Maroon Bells.
- The Fruited Plain: landscapes near Orinda, Pigeon Point, Edna Valley and Livermore in California.
- Sea to Shining Sea: the Napali Coast, Lone Ranch Beach, Canaveral National Seashore and Bailey Island.
Design and Production Details
USPS used existing landscape photography and a square vertical format. Each stamp measures 1.225 by 1.225 inches overall, with a 1.085-inch-square image area. Ashton Potter printed the issue by offset process; the original announced print quantity was 60 million stamps.
Can O Beautiful Stamps Still Be Used?
Yes. A genuine unused O Beautiful stamp remains valid as a Forever stamp for an eligible one-ounce First-Class Mail letter. Add postage when weight, dimensions, nonmachinable characteristics or another mail class requires more.
How to Identify the Complete Pane
- Look for a 4-by-5 grid with 20 different square landscape photographs.
- Check that the five lyric phrases label the five rows.
- Confirm the pane title and USPS item information in the margins.
- For collecting, compare intact pane condition, perforations and adhesive condition rather than assuming every loose landscape stamp belongs to this issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many O Beautiful stamp designs are there?
There are 20 designs, one for every stamp in the pane.
Are O Beautiful stamps Forever stamps?
Yes. USPS issued them at the First-Class Mail Forever rate.
What song inspired the issue?
The pane visually interprets five phrases from the first verse of “America the Beautiful.”
Primary sources: the USPS O Beautiful release and location guide and Postal Bulletin issue specifications. Specifications checked September 1, 2026.