AFP photo of Obama featured on US post office souvenir

The item, known as a cachet, is a business-sized envelope bearing a 42-cent stamp with a US flag and a Chicago postmark from November 4, 2008, the date of the presidential election. It also features a three inch by two-and-a-half inch (8cmx6cm) silk portrait of a color picture of Obama waving to supporters taken by AFP photographer Jewel Samad during the president-elect's victory night rally in Grant Park in Chicago.

A caption on the envelope reads: "Americans emphatically elected Democrat Obama as their first black president in a transformational election which will reshape US politics and the US role on the world stage." Roy Betts, a US Postal Service spokesman, said the item, which is selling in post offices here for eight dollars, was produced by the local Washington branch of the postal service. The US Postal Service has also come out with an "official commemorative souvenir" for Obama's January 20 inauguration, Betts said.

It features a stamped envelope with a silk portrait of Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, a commentary on inaugural tradition and history and the presidential oath of office. It will go on sale on January 20 but is available for pre-ordering and "we've sold almost 20,000 of them," Betts said.