This Official First Day Cover bears the 13¢ Montana state flag stamp, postmarked Washington, DC on February 23, 1976. The cachet depicts sculptor John B. Weaver’s statue of Charles M. Russell holding his palette, flanked by the Montana flag and text noting the state’s 1889 admission to the Union.
Issued during the Bicentennial Era, the stamp celebrates Montana’s heritage while Russell (1864–1926) is remembered as the preeminent visual chronicler of the late-19th-century American West. His paintings and sculptures captured cowboys, Native peoples, and vanishing frontier landscapes with unmatched authenticity.
A notable detail is the cachet’s dual imagery: the Russell statue appears beside the very flag design reproduced on the stamp, creating a layered tribute to both the artist and his adopted state. The cover is cleanly produced with a crisp first-day cancel and remains in excellent collector condition.
A fine addition for collectors of Western art topicals, state-flag issues, or Bicentennial-era FDCs.
