Featuring Research Volunteer Contributions

1972-1978 5-dollar Permits

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$5 Canvasback Ducks and Decoy single

The 5-dollar denomination period, 1972-1978, produced seven issues. The annual Duck Stamp Contest drew almost three hundred entries in the 1974 competition. The 1975 stamp featured a Canvasback decoy and Canvasback ducks flying in the background. This design, though popular in terms of sales, stimulated a fair amount of controversy, eliciting a change in the guidelines that allowed only live ducks as the main feature of any Federal Duck Stamp. The 5-dollar denomination period also included the first stamp to depict a single bird, Albert Gilbert's Hooded Merganser on the 1978 issue. The public purchased 15,312,966 of the 5-dollar denomination Duck Stamps, raising $76,564,830.

Alexander T. Haimann, National Postal Museum

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