The 15-cent Beach Umbrella booklet stamps were issued February 3, 1990, at the Sarasota Exhibition Hall in Sarasota, Florida, as part of SARAPEX '90. Assistant Postmaster General Gordon C. Morison spoke at the dedication ceremony.
The sun 'n' sand 15-cent stamps, featuring a red and yellow beach umbrella, were the Postal Service's response to consumers' requests for postcard-rate stamps in convenient $3 booklets.
The Beach Umbrella stamp in booklets of twenty also responded to customers' requests for more color and variety in regular-issue stamps. The foreground of the stamp, designed by Pierre Mion of Lovettsville, Virginia, features a wide, sandy beach with tufts of grass on drifting dunes. A sea gull hovers over the distant shoreline, under a crystal blue sky. Propped against the heat of the midday sun is a large beach umbrella with red and yellow alternating panels.
Mion also designed the Virginia statehood stamp, the Blair House Historic Preservation Series postal card, and both EXTRAordinary View Cards featuring the White House and the Jefferson Memorial.
Maureen and Chris Lynch
