US 1994 'Legends of the West' Recalled Error Sheet

Twenty legends of the West

In planning its 1994 'Legends of the West' commemorative sheet, the U.S. Postal Service chose 20 subjects. Sixteen honored people tied to the exploration, settlement and development of the American West, and four corner stamps showed Home on the Range, Native American Culture, Western Wildlife and Overland Mail. Each 29-cent stamp carried a short biography on the back, and the full pane cost $5.80.

Among the 16 was Bill Pickett, the African-American cowboy credited with inventing bulldogging, now called steer wrestling. Born in Texas in 1870 to formerly enslaved parents, he joined the 101 Ranch Wild West Show in 1905, performed as 'The Dusky Demon' and starred in early films including 'The Bull-Dogger' (1921). He died on April 2, 1932, after being kicked in the head by a horse.

Pickett was the first African American inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame (sources give 1971 and 1972).

The wrong Pickett

Stamp artist Mark Hess based his portrait on a well-known photograph that had been identified as Bill Pickett. It actually showed his younger brother Ben, a fellow cowboy performer and business associate.

Accounts differ on who caught the mistake first. One says Ruth Murphey, a collector of Bill Pickett memorabilia, spotted it in 1993 while reviewing material for a commemorative album. Another says a radio reporter called Bill Pickett's great-grandson, who went to his post office, looked at the design and recognized Ben. On January 7, 1994, the Daily Oklahoman ran a story headlined 'Cowboy's Fans Fear Stamp Inaccurate.'

By then 5,201,000 panes had been printed and shipped to 137 stamp distribution centers and 330 larger post offices. Within weeks of the family's complaint in January 1994, about two months before the scheduled release, the Postal Service announced a recall and the destruction of the panes.

A recall, a lawsuit and a lottery

Not every pane came back. Post offices had sold 183 of them to the public before the official date, some as early as December 1993, according to one account; another says 186. Those few panes changed hands at prices reported at $3,000 to $15,000 each.

A U.S. stamp dealer sued the Postal Service to force the release of all the error panes and lost. The Postal Service instead reached a compromise with the Pickett family, who had been promised that none of the error sheets would be sold. To 'balance the interests of the philatelic community with respect for the interests of the Pickett family' and to recover about $1.2 million in printing costs, it would sell 150,000 of the original panes and destroy the rest.

The 150,000 panes were sold by lottery, limited to one per household, for the $5.80 face value plus a $2.90 surcharge, and were shipped in blue protective Postal Service envelopes. It was the first time the Postal Service had sold a recalled, unissued stamp, the first time it used a lottery to sell stamps to collectors, and the first U.S. recall prompted by a design error rather than a printing error.

How to tell the recalled pane

The corrected pane, catalog number 2869, uses a movie-poster image of Bill Pickett. The recalled pane, 2870, shows Ben. On the recalled stamp the man looks younger and wears a wide, light-colored hat in better condition, and his right sleeve touches the red frame. On the corrected stamp he is older and thinner, with a smaller, darker hat.

There is a second clue across the whole pane: the red frame around every stamp is a dark blood red on the recalled panes and a brighter red on the issued ones, and it is thicker on the issued version.

Panes still in their blue lottery envelope are listed at a premium by some dealers. One collector writer has advised removing them, warning that the plastic can shrink and the cardboard is acidic.

From lottery prize to catalog staple

The corrected pane went on sale in October 1994, with first day ceremonies in Tucson, Arizona, Lawton, Oklahoma, and Laramie, Wyoming. Sources disagree on the date, giving both October 9 and October 18. One account says 20 million corrected panes were produced, and they remain common.

The recalled pane did not stay rare in the sense of the 183 early copies, since 150,000 were sold, but it remained the famous version. A 2011 catalog listed it at $275 unused. One collector wrote that he bought one for about $90 in 2014, and dealers in recent years have offered never-hinged panes at $125, or $150 with the original envelope.

The most famous modern U.S. error

The Bill Pickett affair is regarded as one of the most notorious stamp errors in U.S. history. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon ordered the error stamps recalled and destroyed, and the Postal Service then did something it had never done before, selling a fixed number of the error panes by lottery. It is a striking contrast with 1962, when the Post Office reprinted the Hammarskjöld invert by the millions.

The affair also helped launch the 'Classic Collection' series of large commemorative panes. And it brought attention to Bill Pickett himself, whose statues now stand in Fort Worth (1987) and Taylor, Texas (2017).

The numbers

Catalog number

2870 (recalled); 2869 (corrected)

Format

Pane of 20 29-cent stamps, $5.80 face value

Error panes printed

5,201,000

Sold before recall

183 (one source: 186)

Sold by lottery

150,000, at $5.80 plus $2.90 surcharge

Printing cost to recover

$1.2 million

Corrected issue

October 1994; first day cities Tucson, Lawton and Laramie

Designer

Mark Hess

Timeline

1. 1870

   Bill Pickett is born in Texas.

2. 1905

   Pickett joins the 101 Ranch Wild West Show.

3. Apr 2, 1932

   Pickett dies after being kicked in the head by a horse.

4. Dec 1993

   Some error panes are sold before the official release date.

5. Jan 7, 1994

   The Daily Oklahoman reports fears that the Pickett stamp is inaccurate.

6. Jan 1994

   The Postal Service announces the recall and destruction of about 5.2 million printed panes.

7. 1994

   The Postal Service announces it will sell 150,000 recalled panes by lottery, one per household, for $5.80 plus a $2.90 surcharge.

8. Oct 1994

   The corrected pane is issued (October 9 or October 18, depending on the source) with first day cities Tucson, Lawton and Laramie.

9. 2011

   A catalog lists the recalled pane at $275 unused.

The world in 1994

• Feb 1994

  The Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway.

• Apr 7, 1994

  The Rwandan genocide begins.

• May 6, 1994

  The Channel Tunnel officially opens.

• May 10, 1994

  Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as president of South Africa.

• Jul 1994

  Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup, beating Italy in a penalty shootout.

• Sep 28, 1994

  The ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic, killing 852 people.

• Dec 3, 1994

  Sony releases the PlayStation in Japan.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, US 1994 'Legends of the West' Recalled Error Sheet is number 97 of 100 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 82 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (91 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Postal Service had printed and shipped 5,201,000 panes before anyone noticed the wrong brother was on the stamp.
• Panes sold before the recall reportedly changed hands for $3,000 to $15,000 each.
• The 1994 lottery was the first time the Postal Service ever sold stamps to collectors by lottery.
• It was the first U.S. stamp recall caused by a design error rather than a printing mistake.
• On the recalled stamp, Ben Pickett's right sleeve touches the red frame.
• The Pickett family had been promised that none of the error sheets would be sold.