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

Shortly after I wrote the post about the Long Coronation Issue of Newfoundland, I began to discover perforation varieties that were not listed in Unitrade, as well as several compound line perforations. I began to wonder what more was lurking out there waiting to be discovered. As it turns out, I do have a few customers who specialize in Newfoundland and who are interested in the varieties of this issue. With that in mind, I decided to purchase as many of these sets as I could with a view to studying the perforations, shades and papers very carefully, just to see what I could find.

I wound up purchasing some 40-45 complete sets from about 30 different vendors, most of whom were located in the US, but many of which were in Canada as well. To my mind this is getting very close to approximating a random sampling of stamps from the entire population, and consequently, by studying the stamps that came in carefully, it should be possible to draw very good conclusions about the overall popu…

As many of my readers are now aware, my partner Steph and I recently moved from Toronto to historic Saint John, New Brunswick as we had a dream of operating a Bed and Breakfast, in conjunction with my stamp business. We bought a lovely 140 year old house located in the west side of the city, which used to be a Bed and Breakfast. We decided that it would be a fabulous idea to operate it as a Bed and Breakfast with a twist: it will be the first Bed and Breakfast that I know of, which is aimed at providing a quiet and cozy, stamp filled getaway for those of you philatelists looking to immerse yourself in your stamps, while having all your needs catered to.

We offer two guest bedrooms, each with their own self-contained bathroom, so that you can be assured of complete privacy in your room. Our room rates range from a low $95 per night for our Rose Gold Room, to $105 per night for our large Grandma Green Room. You can bring your stamps with you and sit in our comfy office, at a large tabl…

Today's post will conclude the King George VI period with a look at nine commemorative issues that were released between March 3, 1947 and October 26, 1951. All of the issues, except for the 1947 Canadian Citizenship issue were designed by Herman Herbert Schwartz, who by now, is well known within Canadian philatelic circles as the country's leading stamp designer. He was involved in the production of the model upon which the Citizenship Issue was designed, but the designer himself was Alan Brookman Beddoe. Silas Robert Allen and William F. Ford, both prominent engravers with the Canadian Bank Note Company (CBN), were responsible for all the engraving. The CBN printed all of the issues except for the Prime Ministers series in sheets of 200, which were split into four post office panes of 50, while the Prime Ministers stamps were printed in sheets of 400, which were then split into four post office panes of 100.

These commemorative issues are important because they mark the beg…