Duck Stamp Question???????  

 

Hi, does anyone know who's name is sighed on this stamp? I google Gio Bollinger and can't find any info...

Not everyone that lived in 1936 would show up on a google search..., would they?

I would think on this stamp they would....

A duck stamp needs to be signed by the buyer to make it valid

I think the signature is of a George Ballinger,

Peter

Hi, I believe the name as signed is "Geo Ballinger".
You will find quite a few George Ballinger's listed if Google that name.
Good luck in finding the correct George on this stamp.

None of the stamp's artist, designers, or engravers match that signature, so as pointed out above, it was probably the buyer. It is probably unlikely that the name of some random hunter from 1935-36 would show up on the internet unless they were notable for another reason or just happened to be mentioned in someone's writings or genealogy work/obituary. For example, there is a George Ballinger (1906-1976) mentioned in someone's Ancestry.com research. Who knows?

In order to hunt migratory water fowl, you had to purchase a federal duck stamp and affix it to your permit, then sign your name across the stamp thereby validating the permit to hunt. If you were caught by a game warden without the permit and signature validation across the stamp you could be in trouble. At least that's the way I remember it from when I did duck hunting in south Louisiana....several years ago ....

Instructional text was added to the back with RW13 (1946-47) explaining use. The signature on yours would be a hunter's.

Here is that text on the reverse of RW14 and another RW14 on license with the matching names on the stamp and license.



The text changed some over the later years.

The artist for RW2 'Canvasbacks Taking to Flight' was Frank W. Benson. Doing a general search, finding his signature on any copy is quite difficult.

Why...?

I think the OP did not realize that the buyer needed to sign the stamp, as I didn't either.

Now that we all know, the name does not mean anything significant.