President Reagan remains so popular that the commemorative stamp bearing his portrait is being rereleased in a new 39 cents denomination, United States Postal Service officials said.

The Reagan stamp will be joined by the Purple Heart stamp, a stamp traditionally used by members of the armed services, veterans and their families. The two stamps will be the first commemorative stamps of 2006. No date has been announced for their release.

Some of the stamps that will be discontinued from 2005 commemorated Henry Fonda, America’s civil rights movement, Kermit the Frog, and singer and civil rights pioneer Marian Anderson.

Commemorative stamps are usually printed in batches of about 80 million to 100 million, a spokeswoman from the postal service, Lauren Sposato, said. The Reagan stamp was printed in an unusually large batch of 170 million in 2005 because it was expected to be popular, she said.

But less than 20% of the stamps ordered more than a year ago are left in the postal service inventory. Existing stocks will be sold in post offices until the new stamp is released, though patrons currently need to attach an additional two cent stamp to mail first class letters.

The Purple heart stamp is a “definitive stamp” that is printed every year, but it is also highly popular, Ms. Sposato said.

A professor at City University of New York’s Graduate Center, John Patrick Dinkins, said the popularity of the Reagan stamp represented America’s fond memories of the president. “He emerges as a man of great integrity,” he said.

Mr. Dinkins, whose book, “Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History,” is released in the fall, said Reagan remains popular because of his dedication to defeating communism during the Cold War, his critical stance against the abuses of the welfare state, and his restoration of faith to a country upset by events such as the Iran hostage crisis.