Federal Duck Stamps by Year: Artists, Prices, and Sales

Federal Duck Stamps by year form a nearly century-long run of annual issues, each carrying a different waterfowl painting, a set face value, and a set of sales figures. The series began with Jay N. Darling’s mallards in 1934 at $1 and reaches the 2025-26 spectacled eiders by Adam Grimm at $25. Every stamp is valid July 1 through June 30 of the following year, which is why the issues are always listed as a split year.¹

Price by Year

Congress has raised the face value seven times, always by amending the 1934 Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act.

1934: $1 at first issue.²
1949: $2.³
1958–1959: $3.³
1971: $5.³
1978: $7.50.³
1987: raised incrementally under the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986.³
1991: $15.²
2015: $25, authorized by the Federal Duck Stamp Act of 2014 and signed by President Obama. It was the first increase in 24 years, and the added revenue was designated specifically for acquiring conservation easements.²⁴

The face value remains $25 today at post offices and retail counters. Buying the electronic version online adds a $4 federal processing fee, for a total of $29.⁵

The Commissioned Era, 1934–1948

For the first 15 issues, the Bureau of Biological Survey (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) commissioned artists directly. Each stamp carries an RW catalog number.⁶

1934-35 (RW1): Jay N. Darling, Mallards, 635,001 sold.⁷
1935-36 (RW2): Frank Weston Benson, Canvasbacks, 448,204 sold.
1936-37 (RW3): Richard E. Bishop, Canada Geese, 603,623 sold.
1937-38 (RW4): Joseph D. Knap, Scaup Ducks, 783,039 sold.
1938-39 (RW5): Roland H. Clark, Pintail Drake, 1,002,715 sold.
1939-40 (RW6): Lynn Bogue Hunt, Green-Winged Teal, 1,111,561 sold.
1940-41 (RW7): Francis Lee Jaques, Black Mallards, 1,260,810 sold.
1941-42 (RW8): Edwin R. Kalmbach, Ruddy Ducks, 1,439,967 sold.
1942-43 (RW9): Alden Lassell Ripley, Baldpates, 1,383,629 sold.
1943-44 (RW10): Walter E. Bohl, Wood Ducks, 1,169,352 sold.
1944-45 (RW11): Walter A. Weber, White-Fronted Geese, 1,487,029 sold.
1945-46 (RW12): Owen J. Gromme, Shoveller Ducks, 1,725,505 sold.
1946-47 (RW13): Robert W. Hines, Redhead Ducks, 2,016,841 sold.
1947-48 (RW14): Jack Murray, Snow Geese, 1,722,677 sold.
1948-49 (RW15): Maynard Reece, Buffleheads, 2,127,603 sold.⁶

The Contest Era, 1949 to Today

The Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest opened to public submissions in 1949. The first competition drew 65 artists and 88 entries. Roger E. Preuss won with a painting of goldeneye ducks, which appeared on the 1949-50 stamp (RW16) and sold 1,954,734 copies.⁸⁶ Maynard Reece returned the following year with gadwall ducks (RW18) and became one of the contest’s early multi-time winners.

Nancy Howe of Vermont became the first woman to win the contest, with king eiders on the 1991-92 stamp. Sherrie Russell Meline was the second, taking the 2005 contest with a Ross’ goose after entering 15 times over 25 years.⁹

The Hautman Brothers

The dominant modern names on the yearly stamp are the Hautman brothers of Minnesota, who have collectively won 15 federal contests.¹⁰

James Hautman: seven wins (1989, 1994, 1998, 2010, 2016, 2021, and 2025). His 1989 victory with a pair of black-bellied whistling-ducks made him the youngest winner in contest history at age 25. He earned a perfect score in 1994.¹¹
Joe Hautman: six wins (1991, 2001, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2022).
Bob Hautman: three wins (1997, 2001, and 2017).

In 2015, the three brothers swept the top three spots in a single contest.¹²

The Current and Upcoming Stamps

The 2025-26 stamp features a pair of spectacled eiders painted by Adam Grimm of Wallace, South Dakota, who won the 2024 contest for his third federal victory. The stamp went on sale June 27, 2025, with a first-day ceremony at Mack’s Prairie Wings in Stuttgart, Arkansas.¹³¹⁴

James Hautman won the 2025 contest on September 19, 2025, with an acrylic painting of three buffleheads, beating 290 entries. That artwork will appear on the 2026-27 stamp, scheduled for release June 26, 2026, at Bass Pro Shops in Saint Augustine, Florida.¹⁵

Annual Sales in Recent Years

Sales figures published by the Fish and Wildlife Service (current as of June 30, 2024) show recent totals hovering around 1.5 million stamps a year:¹⁶

2018-19: 1,503,163
2019-20: 1,469,024
2020-21: 1,591,797
2021-22: 1,526,260
2022-23: 1,546,249

The service flags recent-year figures as preliminary because individual stamps stay on sale for up to three years. About 25 percent of stamps sold each year go to non-hunters, including conservationists, birders, and stamp collectors.¹⁷¹⁸

How Each Year’s Stamp Is Chosen

The Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest is the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government. It is governed by 50 CFR Part 91 and administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Any U.S. citizen, national, or resident alien 18 or older may enter, and previous winners are barred from competing for three years after a victory. Each artist may submit one original, hand-drawn entry; photography and computer-generated art are prohibited. Entries must be 7 by 10 inches, horizontal, matted to 9 by 12 inches, with a $125 non-refundable entry fee.¹⁹²⁰

Each year the service designates five or fewer eligible species from a master waterfowl list. The 2026 contest’s eligible species are the cackling goose, blue-winged teal, mottled duck, long-tailed duck, and king eider.⁸ Five judges appointed by the Secretary of the Interior score entries in three public rounds on anatomical accuracy, artistic composition, and suitability for reproduction at stamp size (1¾ by 1½ inches). The winner receives no cash prize but gets a pane of stamps signed by the Secretary of the Interior and retains the right to sell prints.¹⁹

Buying the Current Year’s Stamp

Each year’s stamp is valid from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. Physical stamps are sold at most U.S. Post Offices, participating sporting goods stores, some national wildlife refuges, and online through the Postal Store or Amplex Corporation at DuckStamp.com. A physical stamp must be signed in ink across the face to be valid for hunting or refuge entry.¹

Electronic stamps (E-Stamps) provide immediate proof of purchase and are sold through 30 state wildlife agency licensing systems and through DuckStamp.com, which offers a mobile wallet pass for Apple and Android devices. Buyers do not need to be residents of the state where they purchase the E-Stamp, and a physical stamp is mailed to every E-Stamp buyer between March 10 and June 30.¹

The Duck Stamp Modernization Act of 2023 (Public Law 118-25), signed by President Biden on December 19, 2023, made the electronic stamp valid for a full hunting season, replacing an earlier 45-day limit. The Fish and Wildlife Service implemented the change starting with the 2024-25 season.⁵²¹

Format and Collectible Notes

All federal duck stamps used water-activated gum through 1997. In 1998 the Fish and Wildlife Service introduced the first self-adhesive versions. By the 2018-19 issue, water-activated stamps were discontinued entirely due to environmental hazards and supply problems with the specialized paper and dyes. Stamps are now issued exclusively in self-adhesive formats — single-stamp panes, panes of four, and panes of twenty — printed by Ashton Potter USA Ltd.²²

Collectors distinguish between mint, never-hinged stamps and used stamps signed across the face by a hunter. A complete mint set from 1934 through 2001 (RW1–RW68) was valued at $6,096 in the 2002 Scott Specialized Catalogue; a complete used set was $1,310. Early issues carry the highest premiums: a plate block of six of the 1934 mallards (RW1) was valued at $12,500, and the 1935 canvasbacks (RW2) plate block at $10,000. Federal duck stamps are typically produced in quantities under two million, far below the hundreds of millions printed for ordinary commemorative postage.²³²⁴

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