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Every hobby has its own folklore, often involving legendary figures in key roles. Fish and game lore is no different. The story I have chosen to begin telling today involves four of our greatest protagonists and will show how their lives became entwined to produce one of the most recognizable images in our hobby. In part one of this series of posts,…

The annual federal duck stamp art contest was held this past weekend at the Academy of Sciences in downtown Philadelphia. At noon on Saturday, James Hautman was declared the winner for the fifth time, tying him with his brother, Joseph, whose art is featured on the 2016-17 stamp. The 152 entries were judged by artist and…

In today’s post, I will show you the Maryland crabbing stamps that were issued from 1991 through 1993 and discuss the possibility that similar stamps may have been issued for previous years. We will conclude this two part series by taking a hard look at some of the issues affecting the viability of the Chesapeake crab fisheries going forward.…

I want to thank everyone who has told me how much they enjoyed the Maryland POW fishing stamps posts – it is very much appreciated! Several of you asked if I knew anything about the crabbing stamps that Maryland is “rumored” to have issued in the early 1990s. Well, it is more than a rumor and…

The award winning documentary film by Brian Davis, The Million Dollar Duck, is set to air on Animal Planet on Wednesday, September 14 at 9 PM EST. Animal Planet can be found on the Discovery Channel. The film follows six artists in their journey to capture the ultimate prize in wildlife art – winning the federal duck stamp…

Just wanted to let everyone know Gallery Seven is now up. Highlighted by 75 different fish and game stamps issued by the U.S. Department of Defense for Vandenberg Air Force Base (see Figure 1), it can be reached by clicking on Galleries beneath the Home page banner, then clicking on “Gallery Seven“.        …

In part three of our inside view of the Bill Webster sale, we shall focus on the federal waterfowl stamps. This session of the auction proved to be quite an experience for all who participated; for myself it was at various times exciting, frustrating, humbling and – ultimately – encouraging and heartening. When discussing the prints session in part two of…

In this, the second of three parts providing an inside view from the Bill Webster sale, we shall focus on the federal waterfowl stamp prints. This was the most organized part of Bill’s collection and prior to the sale I had always thought that Bill and I were the only two collectors to acquire one print…

We are back from our trip and I am ready to provide you with an insider’s look at the Bill Webster Sale, held at the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York on Friday, March March 18, 2016. First, I am happy to inform everyone that for the second consecutive year, a fish and game exhibit…

Many of you have expressed regrets that you were unable to see the exhibit consisting of portions of my collection that took place at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. The exhibit opened in the Rarities Gallery on the 4th of July in 1998. My son, Eric, was seven years old at the time and became the youngest person ever…