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Members of BNAPS are invited to provide a scan of a cover with a short write-up, for the
education and entertainment of viewers.
To help celebrate the Alberta and Saskatchewan Centennials, Gray Scrimgeour has submitted two covers, explained below. Both these covers will be shown in the article on Alberta and Saskatchewan territories appearing in the next Northerner and in the Sept. and Dec. issues of the PHSC Journal.
Here are two covers with postmarks from the Territories of Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan on September 1, 1905.
 First is a cover carried to Edmonton on the mail route between Winnipeg and Edmonton. This once-in-three-weeks mail route, started in the summer of 1876, was one of only two early mail routes to the western Prairies (the other was via Montana to Fort McLeod). The cover was mailed at Lisle, England on November 13, 1878 to Dr. George Verey, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, N.W. Territory, Canada. The name "Saskatchewan" in the address refers to the Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading district. There is an Edmonton, N.W.T. receiving postmark dated January 15, 1879 (earliest recorded date for this postmark) on the front of this cover. This Edmonton, N.W.T. date stamp was proofed on April 9, 1877. George Verey was Edmonton's first resident physician.
 The second cover was postmarked with the Prince Albert, N.W.T. broken circle that was proofed on March 17, 1879. This cover is dated November 16, 1882. It was written by the poet Charles Mair. Mair had an interesting life. He was born at Lanark, Canada West in 1840. Briefly, in 1868, he was sent as paymaster of a survey party sent to the Red River. He angered the metis, and was taken prisoner in 1869 during the Rebellion, escaped, was recaptured, and escaped again. He went into the fur-trade business in Portage La Prairie, and moved to Prince Albert in 1876 or 1877. Mair was the second postmaster of Prince Albert (from May 1, 1879 to February 29, 1892) and his wife Eliza was postmistress on two later occasions. May 28, 2003
by Christopher D. Ryan
Illustrated above is a March 1942 mailing label from a wrapper or envelope that once enclosed a copy of the American periodical House & Garden. Affixed to the label is a four-cent American postage stamp paying the second-class rate to Canada of one cent per four ounces or fraction thereof. However, what causes this item to be of particular interest is its franking of Canadian revenue stamps. These stamps comprise three different denominations from three different issues and, together with the postage stamp, produce a scarce and attractive display piece. From June 25th, 1940, through October 12th, 1945, most newspapers and magazines imported into Canada from the United States of America were subject to the same 10% excise tax, the War Exchange Tax, that was applied to nearly all importations from non-British countries. The Statute required that this tax be paid at Customs by the importer or his agent. Beginning in late July of 1940, Canadian revenue stamps were permitted as a means of pre-paying this tax for magazines and other periodicals sent into Canada by mail. For this purpose, one-quarter and one-half-cent excise tax stamps along with one, two, five and ten-cent customs duty stamps were sold by the Revenue Department to American and other foreign publishers. The amount of tax payable in stamps on each copy of a mailed periodical was to be 10% of the average subscription price per issue. The value of the stamps affixed was to be rounded to the nearest quarter-cent with a minimum of one-quarter cent per copy of a taxable periodical. The one and three-quarters of a cent excise tax on the copy of House & Garden is paid by three different denominations of revenue stamps: one-cent, one-half-cent and one-quarter-cent. This would seem to be an unnecessarily cumbersome franking for what is a relatively minimal amount of tax. But given the denominations available to publishers, this is the fewest number of stamps that could have been used in this instance. However, the presence of multiple revenue stamps is a common feature of such covers. The primary significance of this particular item is the issues of stamps used. Three separate series of Canadian revenue stamps are represented in the franking: Second Issue customs duty, Three Leaf excise tax and George V excise tax. To the best knowledge of this writer, covers showing use of the quarter-cent George V excise tax stamp for the 10% War Exchange Tax are scarce. The presence of this stamp on a cover in combination with both customs duty and Three Leaf excise tax stamps makes that cover a highly prized example of the tax.
April, 2003
There were three distinct fonts used for Newfoundland's 1897 provisional surcharges. The rarest is sans serif (fewer than 1600 created) and an example is seen on this cover of November 9, 1897 in the middle of the provisional period. With the accompanying 4¢ Cabot stamp from the 1897 Cabot set, it made up the 5¢ letter rate to the U.S. This is the only cover I've ever seen with the surcharge helping to achieve this rate. My BNAPS exhibit book - Postal Shortages, and Surcharged Issues of Newfoundland, is targeted for re-release in the near future, expanded and in color. The above cover is one of about 35 new pieces not in the original book. The research section has also been updated.
October, 2002 Background: I was working as a Metallurgical Engineer for Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. at Falconbridge, Ontario, a few miles outside of Sudbury between Oct. 1965 and Sept. 1967. I quit Falconbridge and accepted a job with IMC Potash in Esterhazy, Sask. in the fall of 1967. Quit IMC Potash in the fall of 1968 and started working for Cominco in KImberley, B.C. Was transferred by Cominco to Pine Point, NWT in March 1969. The above accounts for all of the forwarding marks on the cover.
The reason for the letter from General Motors was a recall notice to fix something (I forgot what) on our 1967 Pontiac 2+2, our pride and joy which we bought in Sudbury in late May 1967 after the birth of our first born. To the markings next: Mailed in Oshawa, Ont. April 14, 1969to the original address of the purchaser of that vehicle, me, roughly 1.5 years after I had left my original address. The meter postage of 56 cents comprises first class postage of 6 cents for the first oz. of letter mail plus the registration fee of 50 cents. Curiously enough, there is no Registration marking on the envelope front, although there are two Registration transit markings on the reverse. Markings: Ex. Oshawa April 14,1969 as shown by meter. Toronto & Capreol RPO b/s Apr.15/69. Sudbury transit Apr.15/69. Falconbridge Moon Apr.15/69 front and back stamp. (I guess that it arrived at Falconbridge, the postal clerk realized 1.5 years later that I was no longer there and re-addressed it to Esterhazy, Sask., stamped it and sent it on its way again). Back to Toronto with a Toronto Registration Section b/s Apr.16/69 and off it goes west. Regina transit b/s Apr. 16/69, Registration b/s Melville Sask. Apr.17/69 and delivery cancel (Moon) b/s Esterhazy, Sask. Apr.17/69. Re-directed approx. a year after I had left Esterhazy to Kimberley and cancelled with a Esterhazy dispatch cancel on front of cover dated Apr.17/69. Regina transit b/s Apr.18/69, Calgary transit b/s Apr.18/69, Kimberley Moto b/s Apr.19/69, and re-directed again to Pine Point, NWT. Calgary transit b/s Apr.21/69, Edmonton transit b/s Apr.22/69 and up to Pine Point where I received it, although it has no receiving markings. The amazing story about this cover is that in those days the post office still gave service and without a fee, forwarded my mail 1.5 years after I had left Falconbridge, and 1 year after I had left Esterhazy and 6 months after I had left Kimberley. Try that today !
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