First issued for the 1934-1935 hunting season, the lovely and novel federal duck stamps enticed a few philatelists and dealers to create unique, collectible covers. Notable among these was this 1936-1937 duck stamp first day cover created by New Jersey dealer A. C. Roessler; another was the spectacular zeppelin cover with its 1934-1935 duck stamp, which wound its way through ten thousand miles of mail service bearing no legitimate postage.
Roessler made several unsuccessful attempts to create duck stamp first day covers before succeeding with the 1936-1937 issue. On July 1, 1936, he mailed numerous covers bearing the stamp with its image of three Canadian Geese, titled "Coming In." The cover seen here, postmarked at Orange, New Jersey, at 3:30 p.m. on that day, is one of the very earliest duck stamp first day covers. The stamp is tied with a 3-cent Arkansas commemorative, which actually paid the postage.
The BEP produced the 1936-1937 stamp, printed in black ink, from Richard E. Bennett's etching, which illustrated the use of leg bands on birds to track their migratory routes. James R. Lowe engraved the vignette, and Frank Lamasure engraved the letters and numerals. Printed on the intaglio press, its inscription reads: "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Void after June 30, 1937. Migratory Bird and Hunting Stamp. $1." The plate numbers are 134317 and 134418. Hunters, collectors, and conservationists purchased 603,623 of these stamps.
