International stamp featuring Wyoming's Grand Teton unveiled

June 28, 4:39 PMJackson Hole Fine Arts ExaminerTammy Christel

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Courtesy Grand Teton National Park

Today, the Grand Teton was ready for its close-up. Inside the Grand Teton National Park’s Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose, Wyoming, a crowd of about 50 people commemorated the First Day of Issue Ceremony for the new .98 international postage stamp paying tribute to the Grand Teton.

A snowcapped Grand Teton rose crisp and clear against a cloudless, periwinkle blue summer sky. The crowd, a mix of Teton County locals, Park officials, stamp enthusiasts and tourists, listened as GTNP Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott, Master of Ceremony Richard Thomas and Dedicating Official Gary Sims did the honors.

California photographer Dennis Flaherty took the stamp’s image, a photograph depicting the view at dawn from the Snake River Overlook made famous by Ansel Adams. The Grand’s rosy summit is seeing first light, its base shadowed in violet and mist.

The stamp is part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Scenic American Landscape Series, and it is the first time Grand Teton National Park has been specifically recognized as a park. Moose Postmaster Penny Maldonado, will be available to cancel first day issue stamps for collection purposes.

Scott said the stamp was truly international in feeling because it recognizes a national park, “America’s Best Idea.” Later this year, filmmaker Ken Burns’ new documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” will premier on PBS stations.

GTNP spokesperson Jackie Skaggs notes that postage stamps were first issued in the U.S. in 1847, a little more than a century before GTNP was enlarged to its present day boundaries.

“Many beginning (stamp) collectors choose a favorite subject like art, history, sports, transportation, famous people or animals as the theme of their collection, and the Grand Teton National Park International Stamp unveiling offers a great way to start a new collection or enhance a current collection,” says Skaggs.