About This Stamp
The Post Office Department drew attention to the importance of wildlife conservation with a series of three commemorative stamps issued in 1956. The stamps featured images of the wild turkey, the Pronghorn antelope, and the King Salmon. Each of the Wildlife Conservation stamps paid the postage on a one-ounce first-class domestic letter.
Each of the three intaglio stamps, perforated 11x10 1/2, was printed on the Stickney rotary press from 200-subject plates. Printers used the plates in pairs on the press, so each rotation of the press produced two sheets of 200 stamps, each of which was divided into four 50-subject panes for distribution to post offices.
The 3-cent Pronghorn Antelope stamp was released on June 22, 1956, in Gunnison, Colorado, at the annual convention of the Colorado Division of the Izaak Walton League. Robert W. Hines, an artist working for the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior, designed the stamp's vignette, which depicts a buck and two does of the Pronghorn antelope species in their natural habitat. Victor S. McCloskey of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing designed the frame. The engravers of the die were Matthew D. Fenton (vignette) and John S. Edmondson. The four plates used to print the stamp were 25429, 25430, 25431, and 25432.