Canadian Philately - The Stamps and Postal History of Canada 1851 to Present by Brixton Chrome

In this week's post I explore the first six commemorative issues of 1971, which comprised 10 stamps, including the "Maple Leaf in Four Seasons" which was issued over the course of the year, at the beginning of each season. 
As I note in my detailed post, 1971 was a significant year in three respects, the main one of which os that this is the first time that PVA gum is introduced to replace dextrine gum.  As we will see next week, this replacement is not completed until 1972, with two of the Christmas stamps having the old dextrine gum. 1971 was, therefore a year in which experimentation was undertaken by the printing companies to find a gum that was optimal for use. In addition to the so called "spotty white gum" that is found on a few of the stamps from this year, there were also gums with a distinctly dull sheen, which I refer to here as eggshell, and I have even discovered a small number of stamps with what appears to be almost completely invisible gum. Thi…

My apologies for being late with this week's post. I had a computer hardware disaster yesterday that saw me lose most of my data, and I spent most of yesterday trying to recover it, without any success I might add. So, I did not get a change to write this week's post until today.

Today, I delved into the last 17 stamps of 1970, 12 of which came from the Christmas issue. These issues were replete with varieties that are not listed in Unitrade, such as:


A distinct smooth/ribbed paper distinction that is found on all of the issues except for the Alexander Mackenzie issue and the Oliver Mowat issue. Additional plate flaws on the Christmas issue 5c and 6c stamps.A double print of the Canada inscription on the Group of Seven issue. Three or more varieties of paper fluorescence for nearly all the stamps listed.Shade varieties on several of the Christmas stamps and the Group of Seven issue. In addition, there are the usual variations in perforation on the stamps printed by CBN, which …

Today, I began my examination of the stamps of the 1970's with the first 10 stamps of 1970. This is one of the supposedly simpler periods according to Unitrade, with no varieties other than the basic Winnipeg tagged versions of the commemoratives being listed. 
In contrast to the previous two years, in which most of the stamps are printed on fluorescent papers, this is the first time in two years that the vast majority of the 10 stamps are printed on dull fluorescent papers, with only one issue being issued on high fluorescent paper. Despite the relatively simple appearance, it turns out that most of the issues have upwards of 6 different varieties of dull fluorescent paper. There are also the usual variations in perforation on the CBN printed stamps. When these two factors are combined, there is quite a bit more collecting scope than one would expect at first glance. 
There are not really much shade varieties to collect, nor are there any constant varieties known at the current …

Today's post completes my examination of the 1969 commemorative issues of Canada, and looks at the last 9 stamps issued in that year. Canadian Bank Note Company (CBN) printed all but two of these using either lithography or engraving and lithography, while the British American Bank Note Company printed the other two, using engraving and photogravure.  For these last 9 stamps, high fluorescent or hibrite paper is now the norm, for all except two issues: the Issac Brock Issue and the Stephen Leacock issue, which was the last one to appear on November 12, 1969. Unitrade does list a dull paper variety on the other BABN issue, the Charlottetown Bicentennial, though no other dull paper varieties, are, as yet known on the other issues. Gum and perforation displays the usual variations that were noted in the last post and there are a good number of constant varieties on the lithographed stamps. None of these were listed 20 years ago, having all reached prominence since then. So, there ma…

This week is the first of my shorter posts, which will explore the first half of the commemorative issues that were released by the Canadian post office in 1969. 1969 continues the innovation that was begun in 1968, with hibrite papers firmly taking hold as the standard paper used for stamp printing, and the prevalence of dull paper beginning to drop off. The 10 comb perforation that the BABN had introduced in 1968 is abandoned by them and replaced with a much finer 12.5 x 12 comb perforation. In terms of printing techniques, photogravure and engraving and lithography and engraving are the most common, but pure photogravure and pure lithography are used also.

Perhaps the most marked difference between the 1969 issues and the 1967 and 1968 issues is the lack of perforation varieties. Only 2 stamps of the first 6 stamps issued in 1969 have four variations of the the 11.85 or 11.95 line perforation. The remaining stamps are all only known in a single perforation. This is also the first …

It has become apparent lately that I simply do not have enough time to write my detailed blog posts, while tending to the other aspects of my business and personal life that need attention. I am finding that to complete these posts to the standard that I believe is important is taking me between 8-10 hours, which is essentially an entire day for the Canadian post and about half a day for the Nigeria post. I can only really devote a day to blogging in a week. So, my choices are basically to either change my posting schedule to once per week, or shorten the length of my posts, so that I can still deliver some content each and every week.

After careful consideration, I have decided to opt for the shorter posts. I have done some research on reader engagement, and there is quite a lot of evidence to support the notion that readers will engage better with shorter posts anyways.

So, starting with next week's post, I will be breaking the posts up into parts. 1969's commemoratives wil…

This week I turn my attention to the 1968 commemorative issues. As I point out in my detailed post that follows, this year marks the beginning of a new era in which certain aspects of stamp production that had been experimental in previous years now becomes standard practice. These aspects are:


All of the stamps printed are now in the new metric sizes, rather than the old imperial ones. Fluorescent papers are now the norm rather than the exception.Straight edged sheet stamps appear for the first time since 1934. Cello-paqs, which had been in use since 1961 are discontinued in favour of large softcover booklets for the Christmas issues. Lithography, photogravure, engraving and lithography, and engraving and photogravure all become mainstream methods of printing. Photogravure and engraving is a completely new method of printing that BABN introduces in this year, and photogravure is introduced for the first time by CBN. Prior to this almost all Canadian stamps had been engraved. In 1968,…