Types of Stamps: Definitive Issues

Definitive stamps are regular issue stamps used for ordinary postage and kept in general circulation for a number of years as differentiated from commemoratives which are issued for a relatively short period of time.

Definitives are also known as regular or general postage.

This 25 cent stamp is the regular/definitive issue of the "Prominent Americans" series featuring Frederick Douglass. These definitive stamps were issued from 1965 to 1978 on a plate of four panes of 100 stamps each.