While working on my "Poland: A Philatelic History" stamp album, I came across two otherwise identical Polish stamps from a set issued in 1962 for the 7th European Athletics Championships held in Belgrade. One stamp was perforated, and the other was imperforate. Please see my photo below.

   
 
At first, I assumed the imperforate stamp was a fake, so I decided to investigate.
 
I learned that the Polish government deliberately issued both versions. The perforated stamps were intended for regular postal use within Poland, while the imperforate set was produced specifically for collectors. Because fewer imperforate sets were printed they were sold at premium prices to stamp dealers and collectors worldwide. I had heard about this practice during a Kingston Stamp Club's Stamps and Their Stories presentation, after learning what the difference was I felt lucky to have both!

I'm not sure I understand why Canada Post used the back-end of a longship for its year 2000 stamp. Interesting design choice. You'd think they'd use the dragon view on the prow. 


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Stamp:
L'Anse aux Meadows World Heritage Site
Millennium Collection, Souvenir Sheet
Issed Feb 17, 2000
46c, GT4
Unitrade 1827a

Janet and I were at L'ans aux meadows on July 28, 2000 when the Islendinger, and a flotilla of other ships, came in from Greenland and Iceland to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Ericson's voyage to the tip of Newfoundland. As you can see from my photo, the Islendinger did indeed have the requisite dragon. (smile)


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Cheers, Hugh

I had fun yesterday doing a presentation for the Wolfe Island Historical Society (with my research partner Brian MacDonald) on the early Postal History of Wolfe Island. (Did you know that Wolfe Island and its satellite islands had six post offices at one point?)

   

Doing all the prep beforehand, I learned a lot about the postal systems of Upper Canada, Canada West and, of course, Wolfe Island. I even discovered that mail was transferred across Wolfe Island in the 19th century to Cape Vincent where it entered the US mail stream. This is a photo of one of the local contractors moving the mail (and other stuff). 

   

If anyone is interested, here's a link to the video of the presentation

https://youtu.be/INvtMsC2Vyw?si=8bcBLzEQ_V1evztw

Cheers, Hugh

In 1925, the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) was facing financial difficulty. To reduce costs, they cut miners’ wages by 20%. The miners went on strike. BESCO cut off credit at the company stores, leaving families without access to food. BESCO turned off water and electric supplies to the workers’ houses, which were owned by BESCO.

It was a long strike that attracted international attention. Food parcels and funds were sent from Canada and the US. The Toronto Star newspaper solicited donations for the miners’ families. They sent Group of Seven member Lawren Harris to Nova Scotia to deliver contributions and report on the strike.

On June 11, 1925, BESCO’s security forces killed one striking miner - William Davis - and wounded many others. In the years after the strike, June 11 became Davis Day, when schools and businesses closed and people attended memorial services across Cape Breton to honour not just William Davis, but also the hundreds of workers who lost their lives in the mines. The day was also marked in other parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Lawren Harris was deeply affected by the poverty and suffering he saw. He created a pen and ink drawing to illustrate a report in Canadian Forum magazine’s July 1925 issue:

   

Harris also completed a painting called « Miners’ Houses, Glace Bay ». Canada Post chose that painting for the 2020 issue commemorating the founding of the Group of Seven. 


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The painting is part of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s collection. In 2025 it was loaned to a gallery in Cape Breton - the first time the painting had been shown there - as part of the activities commemorating the 100th anniversary of William Davis’ death.

Ted Luhtala spoke with the group about the German field post system. He had some awesome details. Probably the fact that made the greatest impression was this: the number of people assigned to the processing and delivery of mail to and from the German military during World War II exceeded the population of Canada!

Even people who studied the war in school never learned about the mail, so this topic was of great interest!

Thank you Ted for creating a very interesting new presentation for this final series!

I came across an interesting post in the “Stamp collectors” Facebook group the day of our last club meeting:

   

I had never heard of this philatelic treasure. The auction house program for the item tells all about its discovery. It’s a very entertaining read:

   

You can access a pdf of the full catalogue on the auctioneer’s site. It is a great read!

https://siegelauctions.com/Buccleuch_Block


I planned to listen to the auction live while travelling to our club meeting, but got sidetracked. I had to settle for a post from Linn’s Stamp News telling me the highest bid ($4.4 million USD plus fees) did not reach the reserve price and the item was withdrawn. 

It was a wonderful coincidence to get to our meeting and discover a single 2d blue in the KSC auction. It had a starting price of $15. No one bid against me, so I took home a stamp that will forever be tied to the Buccleuch Block in my memory!

   

... who was Mentioned in Despatches from the 401, as it were,   in the latest edition of the Canadian Stamp News (Jun 2-15, 2026). He rescued CSN editor Mike Walsh and his wife and dog after Mike's car's water pump died in Gananoque.

John, sir, you are a credit to your beautiful town! Well done!

Problems should be over. You might notice slight differences in the fonts etc. I had to ditch the old "theme". It was outdated for the new version of the software. Had to go back to the "default" look. 

If your reply is going to involve a picture upload, you can't use the "Quick Reply" button. You have to use the black "New Reply" button to get the "Attachment" box.

Let me know if any further problems arise.

Roy


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In your opinion, the abbreviation for the Canadian Philiatelic Exhibition is pronounced:

CAP-ex or CAPE-ex (or either?)

I attended the 2022 CAPEX in Toronto (anyone else?) with my friend and we had a blast. One of the exhibits I have fond memories of was someone who had collected censored mail from jails, with all manner of Rude Things written by prisoners, mostly about the correctional officers and conditions.

And of course, I came home with Much Stuff I Didn't Need.  That having been said, I'm not sure how it's pronounced! Thoughts?

For week 3, Hugh spoke about Marcophily, and explained the mysterious marks on covers and postcards. He demonstrated some tools and resources used to identify postmarks. 

For week 4, we did something new, a hands-on session to teach traditional philately skills. Jim Gould and Val Mayers explained perforation, and showed participants how to use perforation gauges. Richard Weigand explained paper types and watermarks, and made magic happen with the bottle of Clarity fluid and the little black tray. There was a quick discussion of hinges and a demonstration of mounts and cutters. The presenters were very gracious and agreed to stay for an extra 30 minutes because the participants’ Show and Tell session had taken much longer than expected. It is a real pleasure to facilitate these sessions when we have so many wonderful guest presenters!