{"product_id":"forever-stamps-2015-summer-harvest-seasonal-celebration-first-class-postage","title":"Summer Harvest 2015 Forever Stamps — Vintage Crate Label Art, Booklet of 20","description":"\u003ch2\u003eIssue facts\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIssued: July 11, 2015 at the California State Fair, Cal Expo\u003cbr\u003eFirst Day City: Sacramento, CA\u003cbr\u003ePrinted by: Ashton Potter\u003cbr\u003eMethod: Offset printing in booklets of 20\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhere the artwork comes from\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMichael Doret designed and drew every stamp in the set, taking his cues from vintage shipping crate labels, seed packets and catalogs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhy those labels existed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the produce trade became a serious interstate business in the 19th century, growers had to find ways to stand out. The answer was the crate label: skilled lithographers were hired to produce them, and bright yellow lemons and hard red tomatoes did the selling from the side of a wooden box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHow they were printed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStone lithography was standard before the turn of the century — designs etched by hand into limestone, inked, and pressed onto heavy paper. Steel and photo-offset lithography made the work faster and cheaper in the next century, and by the late 1940s the practice peaked, with a single lithography firm sometimes employing a hundred artists to keep pace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt ended quickly. Within a decade, preprinted cardboard boxes replaced wooden crates and the labels became unnecessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlenty survive in collections and antique shops. Taken together they form a record of American agricultural advertising across three-quarters of a century — now studied under the name agro-lithography.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Forever Stamp Center","offers":[{"title":"100 Stamps (5 Books)","offer_id":47100623257799,"sku":"ST15-A2-5","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300 Stamps (15 Books)","offer_id":47100623290567,"sku":"ST15-A2-15","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500 Stamps (25 Books)","offer_id":47100623323335,"sku":"ST15-A2-25","price":89.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"1000 Stamps (50 Books)","offer_id":47100623356103,"sku":"ST15-A2-50","price":149.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"5000 Stamps (250 Books)","offer_id":47100623388871,"sku":"ST15-A2-250","price":699.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/6250\/4647\/files\/b-30-1-1_eff5ba57-fadc-4395-b632-66c0717822e3.jpg?v=1788604473","url":"https:\/\/www.foreverstampcenter.com\/products\/forever-stamps-2015-summer-harvest-seasonal-celebration-first-class-postage","provider":"center","version":"1.0","type":"link"}