John James Audobon "Birds of America" dinner plates

Ruffled Grouse, Cedar Waxwing, Canvas Back Duck & Baltimore Oriole collector plates: all in excellent condition. Valued individually around $40+. Will sell these 4 plates individually or as a set.

Audubon funded the costly printing project through a pay-as-you-go subscription. Prints were issued in sets of five every month or two in tin cases and each set usually included one very large bird, one medium-sized bird, and three small birds. In 1838, at the end of the thirteen-year project, 435 plates (87 sets of five) had been issued. The plates were published unbound and without any text. It is estimated that not more than 200 complete sets were ever compiled.