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

This issue was intended to replace the high value War Issue stamps in 1946. Thus a complete set of definitives technically consists of either these stamps, plus the printings of the 1c through 5c War Issue stamps from 1946 through 1949; or these stamps, plus the Postes-Postage low values from 1949-1952, depending on what year you are talking about.

The designer of the series was, once again, Herman Herbert Schwartz. The stamps were engraved by four different engravers as follows:

The 8c was engraved by Warrell Hauck.The 7c, 10c, 10c secial delivery, 17c, 20c and $1 were engraved by Silas Robert Allen.The 14c was engraved by Arthur C Vogel. The 50c was engraved by Joseph Keller. The stamps were printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company in sheets of 200, which were then guillotined into four post office panes of 50 stamps each. 

This was the second issue to feature airmail special delivery stamps. However, their use was not continued after this issue. I gather that this was likely beca…

OHMS Perfins and Overprints




This was the first issue to feature both OHMS perfins and overprints in the same set.

OHMS Perfins

The only perfin type in use at this point was the 4-hole type shown above.  However, there were three sub-types of the 4-hole type, the second of which came into use in 1942:


The first type, which was used until 1946, has a narrow "O", which can be difficult to identify if you are not familiar with these. However, this type can be positively identified by looking at the seventh hole from the top of the "S" and noting where it is in relation to the first and sixth holes. The first and sixth holes are aligned vertically. However, the seventh pin is not quite vertically aligned with these two pins, being just slightly off to the right of them. The second type, which was in use between 1942 and 1949 occurs on seven of the 10 dies used during this period. It is characterized by a wider "O", but also by the fact that the seventh hole of t…

Today's post will explore two more complex aspects of this much under-rated issue: the booklets & booklet panes, and the coil stamps.

Coil Stamps



This is the only issue of Canada to have coil stamps in two different perforations: 8.5 and 9.5 vertically. The original issue that appeared between 1942 and 1943, was perforated 8.5, and was generally printed on softer paper. Later in 1948, the coils were reprinted on a thicker, stiffer paper and were perforated 9.5 instead of the 8.5. The difference is marked enough that with experience, you will be able to distinguish them from one another without having to measure the perforations. The scan above shows the two different perforations, with 8.5 on the left, and 9.5 on the right. As you can see, this difference of one hole, makes a large difference to the appearance of the stamps. In general, the perf. 8.5 coils tend to have holes that are often not fully punched, and are widely spaced, giving perforations that are much wider, and c…