Open your Stanley Gibbons catalogue to Canada. The first listing you'll see is "Postmaster's Provisional Envelope", #1. It is pictured above. It will also be listed in the next Scott Catalogue, and Scott's editor, James E. Kloetzel values the cover at approximately $250,000 - U.S. dollars. This might make it the most valuable Canadian envelope.I was able to hold the cover (in its protective mounts) at WINEPEX 2003, San Rafael, California, on October 5, 2003. My club, the Redwood Empire Collectors Club, puts on this annual show. It was brought there by Sergio Sismondo, who is a recognized expert, and special consultant for Scott's. Sergio recently wrote an updated two-page certificate of authenticity for the cover - although its provenance is well known.
Adhesives were supposed to have been sent to Canadian postmasters by April 1, 1851, but were weeks late, The New Carlisle postmaster took things into his own hands and created his own provisional envelope, of which this is the only recorded example. The cover is postmarked April 7, 1851, at New Carlisle-Gaspe and sent to Toronto. It is backstamped April 16th in Quebec. The sideways writing is docketing, probably added by the recipient, Hugh Miller.
The envelope was sold to Stanley Gibbons in the 1890's. Count Phillipe von Ferrary purchased it from Gibbons and held it until 1921. It was then auctioned in Paris in a sale seized by the French government, the proceeds of which went for war reparations. Maurice Burrus of Switzerland purchased it, holding it until around 1960 when a Swiss businessman purchased it. Shortly thereafter it was resold to a European collector from a noble family.
This Canadian envelope, then, has been held in Europe for over a century. Sismondo told me he was hired to be a caretaker for the cover and show it periodically at stamp exhibits. Its first venue was the WINEPEX show where he graciously let me examine it. What a thrill that was! How many of you have been able to hold a unique philatelic rarity valued at $250,000?
UPDATEIt has been 18 months since the above description of the New Carlisle cover. Several articles have been published that deserve referencing here. First of all, there is no disputing the authenticity and provenance of the cover and it is referenced in both Stanley Gibbons and the Scott Classic catalogues. The primary issue is whether the 3d impression is a "prepaid provisional stamp" or only a "fancy rate marking".
Please refer to David Handelman's Shroud of New Carlisle, II, BNATopics, Volume 60, Number 4, October-December 2003. Handelman is of the opinion that it is a "fancy rate marking".
There is a short piece in the A.I.E.P. - Handbook of Philatelic Expertising, 2004 Edited by Wolfgang Hellrigl. It is under "Sergio SISMONDO". I do not have the page number but here is the relevant text:
"Canada, 1851 issue: Cover from New Carlisle, Gaspe, to Toronto, Dated 7 April 1851 and bearing the impression in black of a Postmaster's Provisional 3d stamp. The lines Letter / R.W. Kelly / April 1851, presumably a filing note by the recipient, were written across the stamp. Robert W. Kelly, the presumed sender of this Letter, was the postmaster of New Carlisle at the time. This is the Only known copy of this Postmaster Provisional. Ex Ferrary and Burrus collections.Bob DyerEditor's note: This stamp is regularly listed as a Postmaster's Provisional in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue. However, at the time of going to press, we note an article in Fakes Forgeries Experts, No. 7, pp. 32-34 that (while confirming the cover's authenticity) claims the 3d impression to be "nothing more than a nice example of a fancy rate marking."
February 2005
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