About This Stamp
In 2010, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a monarch stamp, the first butterfly stamp design that will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service for mailing large-size greeting cards. Envelopes for many large cards requiring the additional postage will feature a silhouette of a generic butterfly in the upper right corner. The Monarch First-Class Surcharge Rate stamps will be published as a pane of 20.
Nationally acclaimed artist Tom Engeman used images of preserved butterflies to inspire the stamp art he created by computer. The result is a highly stylized, simplified image of a monarch — more the illusion of the butterfly than an exact replica.
Engeman, of Bethany Beach, Delaware has designed a long list of stamps for the U.S. Postal Service including the Forever® stamp with the Liberty Bell design, various stamped cards in the Historic Preservation series, and 60 stamps for the Flags of Our Nation series that began in 2008.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Tom Engeman
Nationally acclaimed artist Tom Engeman, a resident of Kensington, Maryland, is well known for his poster and stamp designs. The winner of numerous design awards, he lists among his career accomplishments being the first art director for Washingtonian magazine, designing Historic Preservation magazine, and creating posters for the Metro, Washington’s new subway system, which were stolen as soon as they went up.
Among his many designs for the U.S. Postal Service are the Liberty Bell Forever® stamp, 60 stamps for the Flags of Our Nation series that began in 2008, and eight butterfly-themed stamps, the first issued in 2010, intended for use on large greeting card envelopes and other mail of nonstandard shapes and sizes. Engeman's most recent butterfly stamp design is Colorado Hairstreak (2021).