Object Details
- Description
- Two 29-cent Wood Duck booklet stamps (Scott 2484 and 2485) were issued on April 12, 1990, at the Colopex '91 stamp show in Columbus, Ohio. The booklets of two panes of ten stamps were produced by two different contractors, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and KCS Industries. This was the first time the United States Postal Service employed two printers for a stamp in a single format.
- The magenta, cyan, yellow, and black stamp (Scott 2484) was designed by Robert Giusti, printed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601), and distributed in two panes of ten horizontal stamps, five stamps across and two down on the pane. Gravure printing cylinders with 480 subjects were used to print the stamp. Cylinder markings are printed on each pane stub binding. The stamp was perforated 10 on the Goebel booklet machine stroke perforator.
- The KCS Industries stamp (Scott 2485) was printed on the Champlain gravure presses at J.W. Fergusson, formatted in two panes of ten horizontal stamps, five stamps across and two down on the pane. Line red was used to print the "29 USA" logo, in contrast to the Bureau version of the stamp with the logo in black. Gravure printing cylinders with four hundred subjects were used to print the stamp. One group of five cylinder numbers preceded by the letter 'K' was printed on each pane stub binding. The stamp was perforated 11.
- The wood duck (Aix sponsa) is a medium-sized perching duck. The adult male has distinctive multi-colored iridescent plumage and red eyes. The female, less colorful, has a white eye-ring and a whitish throat. Both have crested heads. The duck is approximately 19-21 inches long and weigh 16-30 ounces.
- The ducks breed wooded swamps, shallow lakes, marshes, or ponds in eastern North America and the west coast of the United States. They usually nest in cavities in trees close to water. The wood duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one year.
- The wood duck is the state waterfowl of Mississippi (1974).
- References:
- Linn's U.S. Stamp Yearbook 1990
- Scott 2005 Specialized Catalogue of U.S. Stamps and Covers
- NETSTATE.com (http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/st_birds.htm)
- mint
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- April 12, 1991
- Credit line
- Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
- Medium
- paper; ink (multicolored)
- Type
- Postage Stamps
