Flag Stamp with 14 Stripes

The US flag has 13 stripes, to represent the original 13 colonies. The United States Postal Service always has stamps that depict the flag, although the design changes occasionally. On April 18, a new set of stamps were released, featuring four paintings of flags at different times of the day. The set is called “Flags 24/7″. But wait! How many stripes does the fourth flag image have?

In the magnified view of the stamp image, there are 6 more stripes visible, before the image is clipped off. The small area located in the lower-left corner of the design is clearly white. By counting the stripes below the blue canton, starting with the white stripe (number 8) it is very evident that there is a 14th stripe and it is white.

This raises an even further design issue … if the flag was bounded by red stripes as the top-most and bottom-most stripes, which every flag issued by the United States since the founding of the country in 1776 has been, it would leave one to think that the flag on the stamp, if it followed the usual red stripe convention, would actually have had 15 stripes!

If the Postal Service is forced to change the design, these stamps may become collectors items. Link -via the Presurfer