I was delighted to be the winning bidder on this cover from China. I was attracted to the large stamp with calligraphy on the upper right. It looked like a poster. 

   

The stamp was issued in 1999 by the PRC to commemorate the 22nd Universal Postal Union Congress that was held in Beijing.

The calligrapher was Jiang Zemin, who in 1999 was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the President of China, and the Paramount Leader. His message on the stamp would make a wonderful slogan cancel:

Develop modern postal services, meet social needs.

When I looked at this stamp, it reminded me of 1982, when China and Canada collaborated to bring a special exhibit to the Ontario Science Centre. It was called “China: 7,000 Years of Discovery” and master artisans travelled from China to Canada to demonstrate skills like silk weaving and embroidery, paper making, and calligraphy. We attended a special show with friends who had recently emigrated from China. As a surprise for Hugh, they had a master calligrapher write something of Hugh’s choice on a sheet of freshly made paper. It was a privilege to watch the artist’s strokes evolve into a quotation from The Art of War.

After posting about a stamp that was embroidered rather than printed on paper, I found that Canada Post released, on February 15, 2015, 
Canada's first-ever fabric stamp, issued to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian flag. 
How perfectly fitting is that!

   


From: https://canadianstampnews.com/flag-anniv...c-stamp-2/

Scott 231 broken hat  or any other columbians used or not used

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U.S. 292 for sale

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What fun that was! 

- Watching mini-bidding wars ( ), and even finally benefiting myself, although I had sworn up and down I wouldn't do it, but hey, how DOES one stop oneself from bidding on a $4 GB lot?! It called to me, ya know? 

- OOH, and I brought home some GB new stamp issue packets for review from Roy over the next couple of weeks!

- And thanks to Richard for the unexpected Belgium stamps he found and gave me... what a Mentor! 

- Finally, I spoke to Bob about some stamp stuff going on with a friend of mine and her sadly-unwell parents (because it's above my pay grade), and he offered to email her and let her know what steps she could take. THANKS Bob! I'll get that info to ya! She's very grateful.

This club rocks!

The UN has recently issued the last stamp of a joint issue set.
But these are not stamps printed on paper, they are stamps that are embroidered.

Please click on the link below for the story: 
United for Peace "Stitch by Stitch"

https://unstamps.org/united-for-peace-video/


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Session 3 of Stamps and Their Stories (SATS) started today, in the Friendship Room / Library at St Andrew’s on the Lake United Church. There were six participants - three new faces and three KSC members. This is the very first time that every participant is a collector, so we are looking forward to some exciting show and tell and good discussions. 

Hugh MacDonald provided an introduction to philately and postal history that was very well received. We have a list of topics the group would like to see presented in future sessions, so please be prepared to say YES with enthusiasm if we come your way at this week’s meeting!

The Kingston Stamp Club is delighted to announce the 2026 Eastern Ontario Spring Stamp Festival, taking place on Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Crossroads United Church, 690 Sir John A. MacDonald Boulevard, Kingston, Ontario. The venue is wheelchair accessible and offers ample free parking for all attendees.

This year’s festival will feature several local stamp dealers and over 20 tables presenting an extensive range of definitive and commemorative postage stamps, revenue, Cinderella, and topical stamps, postal stationery, postcards, postmarks, and first day covers, as well as, catalogues, and collecting supplies will be available to purchase. The event provides experienced philatelists, postal historians, and newcomers to the hobby with an excellent opportunity to enhance or begin their collections while exploring the ways in which stamps reflect history, culture, art, and nature in miniature form.

Hope to see you there!

This thread starts with our last club meeting. Lloyd takes home bags of stock books from Roy to puruse at home. He noticed something in one book that he thought I would like:


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I don’t have a huge collection of these stamps yet, and it is always exciting to find an intact sheet! These are my first from South Africa, and Roy made them highly affordable.

Then Tony gave me a bag of slogan cancels, because he remembers me talking about them. It was a lovely selection that included these:


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And then I was gifted a cover for Valentines, with this lovely fellow on the back:

   

That is Adam Beck. His daughter suffered from tuberculosis and he and his wife invested considerable time into fundraising to build the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium, which opened in London, Ontario in 1910. In 1949 it was renamed the Beck Memorial Sanatorium. 

Christmas seals were and are used to raise funds for charity, but they are not semi-postal stamps, which also raise funds for charity. The difference is the issuer - semi-postals are issued by the post office for use as postage and Christmas seals are not. Christmas seals are called Cinderella stamps. I don’t know if this Google explanation is accurate, but I do like it very much. “They are called “Cinderellas” because they are the “stepchildren” of philately - beautiful and similar to postage stamps, but not allowed to “attend the ball” (i.e., not listed in standard postage catalogues like Scott).”

The first Christmas seal appeared in Denmark in 1904, suggested by a postman. They were issued in the US in 1907 and Canada in 1908. The original Christmas seals were used to raise funds to build special hospitals for patients with tuberculosis. At the time, only the wealthy could afford treatment, but a disproportionate number of working class people were ill. In Canada, 61 hospitals had been built by 1938. After streptomycin was discovered in 1944 and provided free of charge across Canada, treatment changed. The last Canadian sanitorium closed in the 1970s. 

You can read more about the history of Christmas seals in Canada at www.lung.ca .

The definitive reference for Cinderella stamps in Canada is The Field Guide to the Cinderella Stamps of Canada by Ronald G. Lafrenière, Bird Bear Press. The author passed away before completing the third edition, but his widow has promised the work will be finished. The third and final edition is expected to be published this year.

And if you’d like to know the difference between Sanitorium and Sanitarium - because historically, there is a difference - ask Google.

To celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year I share this beautiful Year of the Horse stamp with you!


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Issued January 3, 2002, Scott #1934


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Scott #1933

Of special interest please see the detail below:

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Scott #1934i
(from https://postagestampguide.com/canada/stamps/17376)