About This Stamp
A 20-cent commemorative stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the soil and water conservation movement in the United States was issued on February 6, 1984, in Denver, Colorado. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held at the Denver Hilton Hotel in conjunction with the 38th annual convention of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).
The designer of the Soil and Water Conservation stamp was Michael David Brown of Rockville, Maryland, and its modeler was Clarence Holbert.
The Soil and Water Conservation stamp features a graphic representation of a hand and plant to symbolize the way careful preservation of soil and water resources can yield plentiful crops. Appearing inside the hand are bands of colors symbolizing water and layers of soil.
The production approach used for this stamp was unusual. The Soil and Water Conservation stamp was one of four different panes of commemorative stamps printed simultaneously on the same sheet. This stamp was printed in the upper right pane positions only. The three other 1984 commemorative stamps printed by the "quadrant printing" method honored the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (upper left pane), National Archives (lower left pane), and Federal Credit Union Act (lower right pane).
The stamp was printed in the photogravure process, with 50 stamps per pane.