Compass Rose 2025 Global Forever Postage Stamps Self-Adhesive Sheet for International Mail

A compass rose is a round figure on a map that helps users orient themselves by showing the direction of north and other points of the compass. The earliest known compass rose was drawn in the 1300s and was used to indicate the directions of the eight principal winds. Now compass roses are typically shown as the four cardinal directions (north, south, east and west) and four intercardinal directions (northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest).

The 32-point compass rose depicted on the stamp is from the Collections of the Maine Historical Society and was drawn in 1794 by 10-year-old Lucia Wadsworth in her school geography notebook. She colored the directional points in bright blue, red, yellow and green on a beige background. Wadsworth is the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The pane of 10 round stamps is arranged in two horizontal rows of five stamps. The text, repeated twice around the stamp edge, reads “Global” in red and “USA” “Forever” and “2025” in green lettering. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, was the stamp designer.