Pretty in Pink: The Plates and States of the Canada 1898 Two Cent Numeral Issue; Peter Spencer, 2005. Spiral Bound, 106 pages, 8.5 x 11, colour. ISBN: 0-919854-58-3. Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h017.1; $C74.00.
Peter Spencer's Pretty in Pink: The Plates and States of the Canada 1898 Two Cent Numeral Issue, the latest BNAPS handbook, continues the BNAPS tradition of providing information freely to collectors. The Canada 1898 two cent numeral stamp has been a source of puzzlement and controversy for a century. Two apparent dies, at least two colours, twenty two plates, most plates with several states, two paper meshes, at least two paper colours, and many hundreds of re entries and retouches. The situation is somewhat like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle with a base of about 4000 pieces (22 plates with 200 subjects each) and one, two, three or four layers, depending on where in the puzzle one looks. And to a beginner, all the pieces look identical! Using today's technology to great advantage, the author has closely examined the Two-cent value of the Queen Victoria Numeral Issue to advise readers how to determine the plate of individual copies of this popular stamp.
The Law Stamps Of British Columbia And Their Uses 1879-1984 exhibit contains proofs, bisects and some quite rare imperforate examples of British Columbia Law stamps. Among the many documents are two presented to the Privy Council in London, and another pair processed by courts in France or Egypt before entering the Canadian judicial system. The collection was assembled by Ian McTaggart-Cowan during a period that coincided with the decision of the government of BC to do away with Provincial Registries. These had been maintained in the administrative and judicial centers of the province, most of which maintained County and Supreme Court records locally. Realization grew that little or no reference was being made to the majority of documents in the registries. At the same time facilities in Victoria, Vancouver and New Westminster were growing rapidly and required constant and growing attention. A few of the smaller registries, maintained in courthouse basements, had accidental floods that called for a realistic view of need and demand.
Unfortunately the registries were mostly a local responsibility and there was little guiding philosophy from the provincial government in the matter. Bit by bit the larger registries were examined to identify the categories of records likely to serve a long-term legal purpose. The remaining documents were marked for destruction. It appeared that the provincial archives did not see these collections as a source of interesting historical documents; little or no attention was given to identifying papers of unusual historical interest. There seems to be no official record of what happened to the various local registries. Vancouver documents were incinerated under supervision, though some papers were made available to a local collector. A few people with an interest in identifying documents of special historical significance managed to have some documents preserved.
Ian McTaggart-Cowan has been involved in Canadian philately for many years. In addition to his British Columbia exhibit he has also prepared a Gold-award winning exhibit of the Law Stamps of Yukon, published in 2004 as BNAPS Exhibit Series Book #33. Ian has written many articles on revenue subjects as diverse as the Weights and Measures, Gas and Light inspection stamps of Canada, and Federal, Alberta and British Columbia Wildlife stamps.
Warren Wilkinson's British Columbia & Vancouver Island Postal History, Colonial Period 1858-1871 exhibit is a treat for the eye. The focus is on mail carried by the express and transportation companies - Wells Fargo, Barnard's British Colombia Express, the Upper Columbia Company and others - that contracted with the Colonial Government to carry mail to and from the island, the mainland and points beyond. Many of the unusual postal markings of the period are shown cancelling stamps of British Columbia & Vancouver Island, often on letters going overseas from the colony. A final section shows stamps of Canada used on mail after Confederation in 1871.
After selling other collections, at CAPEX '96 Warren Wilkinson extended a previous interest in the philately of Canada and British North America with the purchase of the Charles Firby collection of Canadian Pence covers. Developing the Pence collection caused him to expand into other BNA areas, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as British Columbia & Vancouver Island. He proceeded to win an unprecedented three consecutive Grand awards at the annual British North America Philatelic Society BNAPEX exhibition. His 'Postal Rates of Canada 1851-1859' won at Ottawa in 2001, while 'Postal Rates of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia' received the honours at Spokane in 2002. In 2003 Warren won again at London, Ontario with the exhibit that is the subject of this book, 'British Columbia and Vancouver Island Postal History: 1850-1871'. In the same years these exhibits also won the Grand award at the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada exhibition. In 2004 his Prince Edward Island exhibit received Gold at BNAPEX in Baltimore, and Gold and the Grand Award at the RPSC exhibition in Halifax and BALPEX in Baltimore.
CANADA CAMEO DEFINITIVE ISSUES; John D. Arn, 2005, Spiral Bound, 152 pages, 8.5 x 11 - BNAPS Exhibit Series #34. ISBN: 0-919854-54-0 (Colour), 0-919854-55-9 (B&W). Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h923.341 (Colour Version) - $C99.50; B4h923.34 (Black & White Version) - $C35.95.
John D. Arn's CANADA CAMEO DEFINITIVE ISSUES is only the third exhibit of Canadian stamps or postal history from the Queen Ellizabeth II era to win Gold at a National level show in Canada or the United States. At BNAPEX/BALPEX 2004 in Baltimore the exhibit received a Gold level medal from both British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS) and American Philatelic Society (APS) judges. In doing so CANADA CAMEO DEFINITIVE ISSUES also became the first ever Elizabethan exhibit to win BNAPS' Horace H. Harrison Grand Award.
The five stamps of the Cameo issue, released between October 1962 and May 1963, remained in primary use only until 8 February 1967 when they were replaced by the Centennial Definitive series. The Cameo definitives were fully involved in the Winnipeg tagging experiment. This was also the early period of use and discovery of fluorescent paper. In addition to normal sheet stamps, miniature panes, coil stamps and booklets were issued, and stamps were also over-printed for official use by Government departments. A number of varieties, some of which are extremely scarce and possibly unique, resulted. Virtually all are included in the exhibit, as are a number of unlisted items.
Commercial usage is emphasized throughout the exhibit. Domestically, besides normal first class mail, there were specialized rates for letters mailed ('dropped') to the same city or post office, printed matter and even for mailing election ballot boxes. Internationally, rate schedules were maintained for surface or air mail to the United States, the Americas, the British Empire and non-British Empire UPU Countries, with a detailed schedule of air rates for the rest of the world.
A long-time collector of a number of philatelic areas, for the past 20 years John Arn's interest has focused on the Queen Elizabeth II period of Canada. He founded BNAPS' Elizabethan II Study Group and for nine years was Editor of its newsletter, 'Corgi Times'. In 1993 his Caricature and Landscape Definitives exhibit earned a Gold at the Peach State Stamp Show but was totally destroyed in a winter traffic accident on the way to a second showing. The Cameo Definitives exhibit, his second to receive a Gold award at National level, has caused him to work on two more exhibits he hopes will also earn Gold awards. In recognition of his philatelic efforts, in September 2003 John was inducted into BNAPS' Order of the Beaver.
Martyn Cusworth's PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND PHILATELY 1794-1873 is the 35th book in BNAPS' Exhibit Series. The result of nearly thirty years of collecting, started when Martyn was living and working in Montreal and continued avidly following his return to Great Britain, was first shown at BNAPEX 2001 in Ottawa where it received a Gold level medal. As it was Martyn's first exhibit at a British North America Philatelic Society show, the exhibit also received the BNAPEX Novice Award. At BNAPEX 2004 in Baltimore a modified and enhanced 144-page exhibit received a Gold level medal and the Allan L. Steinhart Reserve Grand Award. The Baltimore exhibit, with 40 pages of additional material, is shown in this book.
Until James Lehr brought it into a more prominent position in the 1980's and early 90's, Prince Edward Island was something of a backwater in British North America philately. Martyn Cusworth's exhibit reveals the philatelic development of Canada's smallest province from pre-stamp rates & markings through the stamps and postal history of the 1861 Pence issues and the short- lived 1872 Cents issues. The stamp issuing period is well represented with proofs, varieties and covers, many of which came from the Brassler, Carr, Caspary, Cornwallis, Dale-Lichtenstein, Lehr and Saint collections. In addition, an interesting assembly of incoming mail includes some attractive letters mailed from the USA, India and France to Prince Edward Island.
Martyn Cusworth has been a regular contributor to Maple Leaves, the journal of the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain, with an ongoing series of articles on various aspects of PEI philately. He and Mike Salmon have developed and are maintaining an Internet database of recorded PEI covers. He still collects post-confederation PEI material and intends to participate in future BNAPEX shows with some of this material. In addition to his PEI interest, Martyn has exhibited his 'Condor-Lati Air Service to South America' collection and is also a member of the Italy and Colonies Study Circle.
The British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS) is pleased to announce the release of a new edition of Force 'C' - THE CANADIAN ARMY'S HONG KONG STORY 1941-1945. Ken Ellison's study of a topic of Canadian Military Postal History of the Second World War, the exhibit was first shown at ESCPEX '91, where it won a silver medal. After many changes, it was shown twice in 1998 - at Edmonton again, where it was awarded a vermeil medal, and at PIPEX (Pacific International Philatelic Exhibition) in Vernon, where it won a national-level vermeil.
In the fall of 1941 Great Britain requested, and Canada sent, two battalions - the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada - to bolster the defences of Hong Kong in view of Japan's aggressive actions in the Far East. The focus of this book is a study through postal artifacts of the life of the force of 1,975 soldiers sent to Hong Kong. This ill-fated expedition, known as Force "C", gathered at Valcartier Camp in Quebec and at Winnipeg in October 1941. The two battalions, including their headquarters staff and service units, departed from Vancouver on 27 October and arrived at Hong Kong on 16 November.
Japan attacked with overwhelming forces at many points, including Hong Kong, on 8 December 1941. By 25 December, the defenders of the Colony had to surrender, and those that survived were to spend 3 1/2 years as Prisoners of War. This terrible ordeal in the Japanese camps ended with Japan's surrender on 14 August 1945. By 30 November 1945, the 1,416 surviving soldiers had been repatriated to Canada. This exhibit covers the period of the existence of Force 'C', from its creation in October 1941 to its return to Canada in the fall of 1945.
Ken Ellison is the author/exhibitor of two more recent BNAPS books, British Columbia Agricultural Exhibitions (2003) and British Columbia Hotel Covers, 1880 to 1920 (2004). He has also written or co-edited several local histories, including Price Ellison - History Of An Okanagan Pioneer Family (1988), Valley Of Dreams, an illustrated history of Vernon, BC - 1992), Irrigation Is King! (the story of water/irrigation in Oyama, BC - 2000) and A Family Album (an Ellison family pictorial history - 2001).
TRAVELLING POST OFFICE POSTMARKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR; Brian Stalker, 2005, Spiral Bound, 115 pages, 8.5 x 11. ISBN: 0-919854-52-4. Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h016.1 - $C34.95.
Brian Stalker's TRAVELLING POST OFFICE POSTMARKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR is the most comprehensive study of this subject ever published. Because most official records for the Newfoundland Post Office were destroyed shortly after Confederation in 1949 it is not possible to create a definitive work, but this analysis draws together numerous pieces of a highly fragmented jig-saw into a nearly complete picture.
Over fifty years ago, the Meyerson brothers of New York published their study of Newfoundland's Railway and Travelling Post Office postmarks, in B.N.A.TOPICS in North America and in the Journal of the TPO & Seapost Society in the United Kingdom. Further analysis culminated in Lewis Ludlow publishing a detailed analysis of the postmark hammers in The RPO Newsletter of the Canadian Railway Post Office Study Group of BNAPS in the early 1980s, and Kidd & Cockrill publishing an illustrated booklet Newfoundland Travelling Post Office Cancellations in 1987, the latter incorporating updated information from members of the TPO & Seapost Society.
Using Ludlow's hammer analysis as a starting point, this work brings together both tabulated and illustrated data. Brian Stalker has spent four years undertaking a complete review and re-assessment of previously published data and creating around five hundred postmark illustrations. He has been assisted by ten members of the Canadian RPO Study Group and benefited from the extended loan of three previously unreported collections to supplement his own extensive collection, part of which was exhibited at BNAPEX 1997 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Several 'new' finds are illustrated, including copies of proof strikes from the Canadian Postal Archives, and the period of use of many of the postmarks has been extended. In addition, this work includes an update of C R McGuire's work on the postmarks of the Newfoundland Post Office Mail Assorting Office, North Sydney, Nova Scotia, an 'overseas' post office, initially situated on the pier used by the mail steamer between North Sydney and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, the starting point for mail in transit to Newfoundland.
Published as a sister volume, and in a similar format, to Ross Gray's Railway Postmarks of the Maritimes (BNAPS 2000) this volume contains a wealth of detailed data for the specialist, but the layout and illustrations make it comprehensible and of interest to the general collector.
Brian Stalker has been collecting Canadian Railway postmarks for twenty five years, regularly exhibiting RPO studies at conventions of BNAPS and the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain, of which he is a Fellow. This book is the result of his first post-retirement philatelic project. Brian is already collecting and collating data for his next major project, the people, places, mail-cars and steamers behind the postmarks of Newfoundland and Labrador's Travelling Post Offices.
BNAPS BOOK DEPARTMENT - PUBLISHING RELEASE NOTES - 2005
The Law Stamps Of British Columbia And Their Uses 1879-1984; Ian McTaggart-Cowan, 2005, Spiral Bound, 170 pages, 8.5 x 11 - BNAPS Exhibit Series #36. ISBN: 0-919854-65-6 (Colour), 0-919854-66-4 (B&W). Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h923.361 (Colour Version) - $C104.50; B4h923.36 (Black & White Version) - $C37.95.
British Columbia & Vancouver Island Postal History, Colonial Period 1858-1871; Warren S. Wilkinson, 2005, Spiral Bound, 160 pages, 8.5 x 11 - BNAPS Exhibit Series #37. ISBN: 0-919854-67-2 (Colour), 0-919854-68-0 (B&W). Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h923.371 (Colour Version) - $C102.00; B4h923.37 (Black & White Version) - $C36.95.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND PHILATELY 1794-1873; Martyn Cusworth, 2005, Spiral Bound, 192 pages, 8.5 x 11 - BNAPS Exhibit Series #35. ISBN: 0-919854-56-7 (Colour), 0-919854-57-5 (B&W). Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h923.351 (Colour Version) - $C120.00; B4h923.35 (Black & White Version) - $C39.95.
Force 'C' - THE CANADIAN ARMY'S HONG KONG STORY 1941-1945; Ken Ellison, 2005, Spiral Bound, 128 pages, 8.5 x 11 - BNAPS Exhibit Series #8. ISBN: 0-919854-51-6 (Colour), 0-919854-53-2 (B&W). Published by the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Stock # B4h923.81 (Colour Version) - $C89.00; B4h923.8 (Black & White Version) - $C33.95.
FORCE 'C' - THE CANADIAN ARMY'S HONG KONG STORY 1941-1945, is the eighth volume in the BNAPS Exhibit Book Series. The original 1998 edition has been revised, with new material included. In addition, the 2005 version was prepared and printed from computer scanned originals instead of from the master photocopies used to produce the earlier edition. Digital scanning provides better defined images and allows exhibits to be reproduced in colour or black and white.