The Postal Service ventured westward with the issuance of a sheet of twenty 29-cent Legends of the West commemorative stamps on October 18, 1994, on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie, Wyoming. They were also issued out on the streets of Old Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, and at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma.
The Legends of the West stamps feature Buffalo Bill (1846-1917), Jim Bridger (1804-1881), Annie Oakley (1860-1926), Chief Joseph (c. 1840-1904), Bill Pickett (1870-1932), Bat Masterson (1853-1921), John Fremont (1813-1890), Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), Nellie Cashman (c.1849-1925), Charles Goodnight (1826-1929), Geronimo (1823-1909), Kit Carson (1809-1868), Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876), Jim Beckwourth (c.1798-1866), Bill Tilghman (1854-1924), and Sacagawea (c.1787-1812). Four additional stamps honor Native American Culture, Western Life, the Overland Mail, and the American Cowboy.
These stamps were the first in the new Classic Collection Series that featured Americana-themed subjects. The unique twenty-stamp format has a banner on the selvage portion of the sheet and descriptive text on the back of each stamp. The text was printed before the glue was applied since both the ink and glue were approved food-grade materials and completely safe for use.
Designed by Mark Hess of Katonah, New York, the stamps were produced in the photogravure process by Stamp Venturers, Inc.
Reference:
Postal Bulletin (October 13, 1994).
mint
10.1 horizontal perforations x 10 vertical perforations
Remembered as a legend of the American West, Annie Oakley was born in Ohio in 1860 and played no role in the settlement of the United States beyond the Mississippi. Her fame grew out of her skills as a sharpshooter as they were displayed in several traveling circus shows including "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" and "The Young Buffalo Show." Her show-business career earned her world-wide renown as she performed her feats of marksmanship throughout the United States and across Europe.
She offered during both the Spanish-American War and World War I to raise a regiment of women volunteers to fight in the war, but both offers were rejected by the War Department. Neither was she permitted to teach marksmanship to the troops, though she did travel for the National War Council of the YMCA, performing at training camps and raising money for the Red Cross with her shooting demonstrations.
Later in life, suffering from severe injuries sustained in an automobile accident, Annie Oakley gave up he career in show-business and retired with her husband to her hometown in Drake County, Ohio. She died in 1926 at the age of 66.
