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This has obviously been an unusual year and the annual duck stamp art contest was not immune from changes made to ensure public safety during the current COVID-19 Pandemic. The contest was originally scheduled to take place on the Drake University campus in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend. The much-anticipated event would have included tributes…

Someone who made one of the greatest contributions to our hobby, legendary Iowa wildlife artist Maynard Reece, passed away on July 11. Maynard created the artwork for five federal and many other state waterfowl and fish and game stamps. We have created this gallery to honor his memory – and remain forever grateful.    …

In todays conclusion to our series on the scrapbook assembled by Herman D. “Shorty” Schoettger, we will see a number of uncommon licenses and gain some additional insights from Shorty, himself. As we saw in Part One, his long-time sporting companion, Ira Cahoon, passed away in April of 1921. Therefore, starting around this time Shorty…

Today we will start to look at some pieces from a scrapbook formed by a man who lived in Nebraska. The scrapbook contained some very early hunting and fishing licenses and several accompanying newspaper articles, wherein he provides detailed (and entertaining) accounts of his sporting exploits. These narratives provide context and flavor seldom encountered with…

In today’s post we will look at the 14 federal duck stamps that were issued from 1984-85 through 1997-98 (RW51 – RW64). In 1998, U.S. Post Offices were supplied with new style, self-adhesive stamps (commonly known as peel and stick) to sell hunters. Gummed stamps were still produced, however, these were sold by the United…

In today’s post we will look at the 12 federal duck stamps that were issued from 1972-73 through 1983-84 (RW39 – RW50). This period saw the collecting of duck stamps and prints really take flight. We will explore some of the reasons behind this phenomenon and discover why even more hunters than before would make…

Today we will look at 13 federal duck stamps that were issued during the Vietnam War, starting with the 1959-60 season and continuing through 1971-72 (RW26 – RW38). They are often referred to as the “$3 ducks” and are notable for several reasons. Aside from the one dollar fee increase, perhaps the most defining thing…

As we continue our show and tell series, we will look at the 13 federal duck stamps that were used starting after WWII and continuing through 1958-59. This includes the ten year period (1949 – 1958) commonly referred to as the “$2 Ducks”. For a number of reasons, these stamps are much easier to find…

In the last post, we saw one approach to collecting federal duck stamps, in mint graded condition. Thanks again, to Bob Budesa for sharing his fabulous collection of jumbo stamps with all of us. Today we begin a new “show and tell series” that focuses on the opposite end of the duck stamp spectrum –…

In today’s post, we will meet a stamp collector on a mission to assemble one of the finest sets of federal duck stamps, ever. We will learn more about the production side of our hobby and gain an understanding for how a single step in this process – perforating –  can greatly affect aesthetics, demand…