Crowning Achievement : A Determined Tustin Artist Finally Designs a Stamp That Sticks--in Hungary

For more than two decades, artist Rex Davenport has sent the U.S. Postal Service dozens of his designs and drawings--including one of Elvis Presley in 1977 and, more recently, another of slain musician Selena--in the hope of having one immortalized as a stamp.

After 23 years of amassing both a portfolio of drawings and a room full of framed rejection letters, Davenport may finally have the problem licked. Earlier this month he received a letter from officials in Hungary, indicating their intent to use one of his designs in a stamp commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of a major historical event, the marriage of the country’s first king.

“When you’ve been submitting designs for this long, you don’t think it’s going to happen,” Davenport said. “It feels a bit like winning the lottery.”

Davenport’s design, a royal crown atop two intertwined wedding bands and a rose, commemorates the 996 marriage of St. Stephen, who was crowned as Hungary’s first king four years later and canonized after his death, to Gisela, a Bavarian princess.

“I read something in the paper about the anniversary,” said Davenport, a Tustin resident and a freelance graphic artist who specializes in company logos. “I thought I’d submit my idea and see if they’d go for it.”

He is still awaiting further correspondence to clarify when the stamp will be issued and whether changes might be made. “They will probably make some modifications to the design,” Davenport said. “That would be OK, because it’s still my idea.”

He did not ask for money in exchange for the stamp, he said, but hopes the recognition will bring him other work. “This is my first break,” he said. “It could open up some doors.”

Davenport, 46, began collecting postage stamps at age 12. As a teenager in Huntington Beach, he began using his natural artistic talents to design his own.

He sent one of his first sketches, of John F. Kennedy, to the late president’s younger brother, Robert, in the mid-1960s. Among Davenport’s most prized treasures is a signed photograph of Robert F. Kennedy with a personal message from the senator.

Among the drawings he has submitted to the Postal Service are of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, the Liberty Bell and the first black Civil War regiment, after the unit was depicted in the 1990 film “Glory.”

A memorial stamp of the Oklahoma City bombing, a somber depiction of a woman shedding a single tear, was recently turned down, he said. Stamps in honor of union leader Cesar Chavez and entertainer Lucille Ball were automatically ruled out because of a Postal Service mandate that commemorative stamps may not be issued until 10 years after a person’s death.

According to a Postal Service spokeswoman, about 40,000 people submit ideas for postage stamps every year, but only about 35 are recommended to the postmaster general by the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to become stamps.

Generally, once an idea is chosen, professional illustrators are commissioned for the work, said Sandra Harding, a Postal Service spokeswoman.

It’s a long shot, Davenport admits, but he is determined to keep trying. Occasionally, he said, he tries other ways to generate interest in his drawings.

He sent a pen-and-ink sketch of Warren Burger, the late chief justice of the United States, directly to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who replied in a letter that he did “not think the likeness of Chief Justice Burger on the stamp is a particularly good one.”

Of the letter, Davenport said, “I thought I did the chief justice pretty well, but it all depends on different people’s point of view. I look at it as constructive criticism. Maybe I could have done it a little better.”

Humphrey, however, sent Davenport a letter of praise, calling one of the pencil drawings of his likeness “excellent.” Davenport frequently corresponded with Humphrey during the former vice president’s final years.

Also on the walls of Davenport’s studio and bedroom in Tustin are framed letters and signed photographs from people such as President Clinton, former presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Jimmy Carter and others, attesting to his tireless efforts to have his drawings made into stamps.

“I’m pretty persistent,” Davenport said, adding that he recently finished a drawing of Jacqueline Onassis that he plans to submit for consideration. Among his endeavors, Davenport is lobbying the Postal Service to relax the 10-year rule, which it has done for U.S. presidents.

Davenport is also trying to break into foreign markets--”working from the outside in,” he said.

“After [John] Kennedy was assassinated, lots of foreign countries issued stamps with his image,” he said. “And Germany has an Elvis stamp. So I’m trying to generate interest for my Elvis stamp in Japan, and the Mexican government is very interested in my Selena stamp. Very interested.”