U.S. Stamp Images
The U.S. Postal Service holds the copyright of all U.S. stamps issued after December 31, 1978. As such, the museum cannot give permission to use images of post-December 31, 1978 issued U.S. stamps. Permission should be obtained from the U.S. Postal Service Licensing Department. Also, the USPS has high-resolution scans available of most U.S. stamps.
For USPS contact information and other questions, please visit the USPS website at: U.S. Postal Service Licensing Department
The United States Postal Service’s policy is that formal, written permission is not required to use images of stamps that were issued prior to January 1, 1979.
When using pre-1979 stamp images you must still follow the reproduction guidelines which are as follows:
Illustrations may be in color or in black and white, and may depict philatelic items as uncanceled or canceled. When depicting uncanceled items in color, illustrations must be less than 75% or more than 150% in linear dimension of the size of the design of the philatelic items as issued. Color illustrations of canceled philatelic items and black and white illustrations of uncanceled or canceled philatelic items may be in any size.
In many cases, particularly with older stamps including those released before 1979, the U.S. Postal Service does not have information about other potential third-party ownership interests. In these cases, you would be solely responsible for identifying and obtaining permission from any other third parties that may have an ownership interest in the image.
For additional information and to obtain image files please contact the U.S. Postal Service Licensing Department.
International Stamp Images
Permission for use of international stamp images (non-USA) should be obtained directly, before use, from the entity, or entities, to whom stamp copyright belongs.
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The Scott Numbers are the copyrighted property of Amos Media Company, and are used here under a licensing agreement with Amos. The marks Scott and Scott’s are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and are trademarks of Amos Media Company. No use may be made of these marks or of material in this publication, which is reprinted from a copyrighted publication of Amos Media Company., without the express written permission of Amos Media Company, Sidney, Ohio 45365.
Open Access is a unique opportunity to bring Smithsonian collections to people in new ways, to engage with the public, and provide important context for challenging 21st-century issues. With Smithsonian Open Access, we’re increasing the public’s ability to use millions of digital assets—2D and 3D images and data. Open Access items carry what’s called a CC0 designation. This means the Smithsonian dedicates the digital asset into the public domain, meaning it is free of copyright restrictions and you can use it for any purpose, free of charge, without further permission from the Smithsonian. As new images are digitized, if they are determined to be copyright-free, the Smithsonian will dedicate them as CC0 ongoing.
