Boston 2026’s second collectible label was released earlier today on the first day of the Great American Stamp Show in August in Sacramento, California. This second-in-a-series patriotic-themed promotional label was created by award-winning stamp designer Chris Calle, whose artwork was used on the first label and will continue yearly up until show time. Each sheetlet contains nine self-stick labels of the same design.
The label’s image prominently depicts Benjamin Franklin and the July 16, 1722 front page of Boston’s New-England Courant weekly newspaper founded by his brother James. Ben apprenticed for the paper as a teenager setting type and regularly writing a highly opinionated column under the nom de plume of “Silence Dogwood.” A copy of that very page with Ben’s thoughts can be found online here: www.ushistory.org/franklin/courant/issue51.htm.
Like the first label from 2021, both an unsigned and an artist-signed version of the sheetlet are being made available, with Chris Calle signing a numbered limited edition of 450 of this second design. Orders are being accepted on the Boston 2026 web site now. Label 1’s signed version has been sold out for months. Boston 2026 President Emerita, Nancy Clark, commented, “Chris Calle’s colorful artwork on Label #2 focuses on a true Bostonian, born there and apprenticed there. The images selected for Label #2 ring true to Boston’s slogan, the birthplace of the American Revolution.”