Westpex Retrospective

By Eric Torre | October 30, 2015 |

Chapter Two: Federal Waterfowl Stamps

The federal waterfowl stamps are the best known and most highly collected of any material in this exhibit. All regularly issued federal “duck” stamps are common in unused and used condition and common to scarce used on most state resident licenses. In general, the earlier the year and the smaller the state or territorial population, the more difficult they are to obtain. For example, the RW1 on Hawaii license in this exhibit is exceptional (see Figure 16).

Figure 16. Only 137 federal waterfowl stamps were sold in Hawaii for 1934-35, by far and away the fewest in any state or territory. This County of Hawaii Hunting license with RW1 affixed to the reverse is the epitome of an early federal usage from a state or territory with a small population.

Advanced collectors look for proofs, essays, errors and unusual usages. Collecting federal waterfowl stamps on form 3333 presents a high degree of difficulty of acquisition. In general, the farther removed from RW1 (the later the usage), the more difficult. All other collections combined could not duplicate the run of form 3333s in this exhibit. Highlights:

1934-35 (RW1) Large Die Proof. Federal waterfowl proofs (both large and small die) are very difficult to acquire, with every example in collector hands being one of one or two recorded. Near the top of my wish list for over 30 years and I haven’t even heard a rumor of another RW1 large die proof outside of the Smithsonian (see Figure 17).

Figure 17. The only recorded RW1 large die proof outside the Smithsonian.

RW1 on Washington D.C. form 3333s. The form 3333 at the top of this exhibit page has an RW1 from the first sheet of stamps that was sold to stamp designer “Ding” Darling affixed to the obverse. Darling was allowed to buy the stamps two days before the general public, on August 22, 1934. Darling has signed the reverse. As one might imagine, documented examples from the first sheet of waterfowl stamps sold in history are a very relevant part of the story. The form 3333 at the bottom of the page has an RW1 on form 3333 dated on the first day of issued to the general public, August 24th, 1934 (see Figures 18a, b and c).

Figure 18a. Washington, DC form 3333. This form has an RW1 affixed from the first sheet of stamps sold to Ding Darling on August 22.

Figure 18b. Reverse of Washington, DC form 3333 sold on August 22, showing Darling’s signature.

Figure 18c. This form 3333 has an RW1 affixed from the day the stamps first went on sale to the public, August 24.

RW1 Plate number block of six. The primary purpose for form 3333 was to ensure that stamps were not shared by hunters. For this reason, 1934-35 federal waterfowl stamps were not allowed to leave a post office unless they were affixed to a hunter’s license or, in lieu of a license, the form 3333. For the same reason, no unused stamps were allowed to leave a post office until the law was changed allowing collectors to purchase unused stamps two weeks prior to the stamps being removed from sale in 1935 and destroyed. This was done in anticipation of a new regulation which required all federal duck stamps used for hunting to be signed across the face by the hunter – therefore rendering the possibility of stamp sharing a non starter. All plate number blocks of RW1 extant were purchased by stamp collectors and dealers during this two week period, thus accounting for their relative difficulty of acquisition (see Figure 19).

Figure 19. Stamp collectors and dealers were not allowed to purchase plate number blocks of RW1 until a two week period just prior to the stamps being taken off sale and destroyed in 1935.

State of Montana Certificate of Identification used as a replacement license. States had different ways to approach the problem of a lost hunting license. Often these led to rare and unusual usages. There are a number of such usages in this exhibit, perhaps highlighted by the elaborate form printed and used by Montana. In this case the stamp was cancelled twice (not in the federal regulations) and the form itself was embossed with the seal of the Fish and Game Commission (see Figure 20).

Figure 20. State of Montana Certificate of Identification used as a replacement license.

1935 Federal print and artist signed stamp. In an effort to increase revenue generated for conservation purposes, the federal government began to commission famous artists to design the waterfowl stamps and then prints of their original work were made available to collectors for purchase. The 1935-36 stamp was designed by noted portrait artist Frank Benson and had the fewest number of prints made in the series at only 100. The medium chosen by Benson to reproduce his work was dry-point etching on a copper plate(see Figure 21).

Figure 21. Print for the 1935-36 federal waterfowl stamp and plate number single signed by the artist Frank Benson.

RW1 and RW2 used on Form 3333. The use of multiple waterfowl stamps being used on the same license is an infrequent occurrence most often explained by the fact that veterans from the armed forces were not required to purchase a new license each year but were required to purchase a new stamp. Form 3333s with multiple waterfowl stamps affixed have a high difficulty of acquisition (see Figure 22).

Figure 22. While occasionally encountered on a state hunting license, the use of waterfowl stamps from different years on a Form 3333 is a rare occurrence.

RW3 First Day Cover. Although the RW3 FDC is of historic importance on an individual basis and a rarity (I know of three examples), what is more interesting to me is the progression of attempts shown by Roesler: missing RW1 by three days and RW2 by a single day, before finally being successful with RW3. The three pieces together illustrate a fascinating “story within the story” and could not be duplicated (see Figures 3c and 23).

Figure 23. The earliest recorded federal waterfowl stamp first day cover (in this case a card).

RW1,2 and 3 on Hawaiian Form 3333s. Waterfowl hunting was only legal in Hawaii while the first three federal stamps were valid. The combined sales numbers for all of the islands that comprised the Territory of Hawaii for RW1,2 and 3 were minuscule at 137, 97 and 96, respectively. Therefore, for a collector to acquire any federal stamp on a Hawaiian Form 3333 is a major achievement. To acquire all three is unprecedented (see Figure 24a, b and c).