Lighthouse stamp debuts July 23

The U.S. Postal Service continues its series of lighthouse stamps by artist Howard Koslow with the 2009 issuance of five Gulf Coast lighthouse commemorative stamps: Matagorda Island, Texas. Sabine Pass, La., Biloxi, Miss., Sand Island, Alaska, and Fort Jefferson, Fla.
A first-day-of-issue ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, July 23, at the lighthouse in Biloxi.
These five Gulf Coast lighthouses were chosen because they stood defiant to the winds and surge of Hurricane Katrina, postal officials said. They will be commemorated on postage July 23 when the 44-cent first-class stamps become available nationwide that day.
The stamp images are based on photographs taken one year following Katrina’s devastation.
Koslow also painted the five Pacific Lighthouses stamps issued in 2007, as well as the five stamps in the 1990 Lighthouses booklet, the Great Lakes Lighthouses stamps issued in 1995, and the 2003 Southeastern Lighthouses stamps.