Canada: Covers and Cancels - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Canada: Covers and Cancels (/showthread.php?tid=63)

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Canada: Covers and Cancels - Hugh - 10-08-2025

Here is a cover with a cancel from the Great Western Railway from February 20, 1867. It's on a cover that was travelling west to Windsor, Canada West [CW]. Canada West was created in 1840 following the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Together with Canada East, it formed the Province of Canada -- a British Colony. The GWR was the first railway chartered in Canada West and operated between 1853 and 1882 when it became part of the Grand Trunk Railway.

Four months after this cover was mailed, on July 1, 1867, Canada West would become the Province of Ontario in the new Confederation of Canada.

Stamp:
Province of Canada
First Cents Issue - Beaver
Issued in July 1859
5c, Carmine
Unitrade 15

Sadly, the stamp was obliterated with a pen cancel. However, it's still a very nice, bright stamp. According to the dealer the cover was "found in Norway in May 2012 and had never been exposed to sunlight".  Such are the legends of provenance (smile).

Cancels:

Receiving
Great Western Railway
Partial Ring - Outside: G.W.R. / 6[7 - VERY faint]
Centre: WEST / FEB 20
Type  1606 (Jarett, p. 567)

Arrival
Single Ring - FEB 20 / 1867

[attachment=109]

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RE: Canada: Covers and Cancels - RICHARD - 10-10-2025

[attachment=854][attachment=854][attachment=853]Mail Bag Scott 117/119 Toronto Jul 5 1924,  [attachment=830]Montreal Dec 22 !891 Flag cancel [attachment=829]Scott 160 , Caledonia Nova Scotia. [attachment=655]Registered cover St. Catharine's Jan 10 1928 5 cent purple Scott 146, 10 brown Scott 118 Buffalo N.Y. magenta Registered oval o Montsec N.J. Black Wax seal Bank of Dominionn reverse same day Magenta[attachment=656][attachment=820] Cross Border Use Kingston Ap,11,1849 Red CDS on Blue FL 10 Red Cape Vincent NY.

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RE: Canada: Covers and Cancels - Janet MacD - 12-10-2025

(10-10-2025, 11:21 PM)RICHARD Wrote:  Registered cover St. Catharine's Jan 10 1928 5 cent purple Scott 146, 10 brown Scott 118 Buffalo N.Y. magenta Registered oval on reverse same day Magenta Montsec N.J. Black Wax seal Bank of Dominion

I am always amazed when I find an intact bank seal that has gone through the external mail, like this one. I have found it is more common to get them on internal items that were not mailed. This is a nice pre-merger piece for anyone who collects Toronto Dominion Bank ephemera.

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RE: Canada: Covers and Cancels - Hugh - 26-10-2025

I got this from one of Graham's boxes at the Fall Festival. It appears to be a Unitrade 35 (Ottawa printing) of the 1c Small Queen issue. It's in sad shape (lots of pulled perfs) but I didn't buy it for the stamp. 

[attachment=971]

It has a fancy, geometric 'Star of David' cancel. Fred Jarrett (Stamps of British North America, 1929) listed it in 'Geometrical and Other Unclassified Types) and called it a type 1179. He also noted that it was used in Toronto in 1874. Day and Smythies (Canadian Fancy Cancels, 1963) suggested it was a 'Geometric Fancy' killer made with either rubber or metal. Unless it was way over-inked, this one looks to me like it was made of rubber. 

It is certainly a striking cancel (pun intended) ... and a welcome addition. 

Cheers, Hugh

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RE: Canada: Covers and Cancels - Hugh - 26-10-2025

Here's a couple of VERY late use fancy cancels on Unitrade 167 (3c deep red KGV Arch / Leaf issue, 1931). 

[attachment=972]

The basic stamp is a dime a dozen (almost half-a-billion were issued) but each of these cancels has a story to tell. Regrettably, I'll never know. 

Intriguing obliterations though. Too bad they weren't kept on the cover. 

Cheers, Hugh

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RE: Canada: Covers and Cancels - Hugh - 06-11-2025

How about a 'cancel' that's not really a cancel?

Modeled after similar use in the Royal Navy, this would appear to be a RCN cover from WW2. It looks like a censor hand-stamp that doubles as confirmation that it has been stamped on mail from a seaman on active service on HMCS (not-going-to-tell-you-for-reasons-of-security) and thus is entitled to free franking for mail back home.

In this case, 'back-home' appears to have been to a Mrs. J. Brazill at 2741 Masson St. Montreal, Quebec. This is a major east-west street in the Rosemont district.

[attachment=1011]

I'm assuming that this was the sailor's wife, that his name is John, that he survived the war and returned to live in Rosemont. If I do that, and then do a search, I find an obituary notice for a John B. Brazill (1922-2002) who died in Montreal, aged 80, and was interred at the veterans' cemetery in Pointe-Claire. The notice mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. J Brazill lived in Rosemount. His birth date, on the Find a Grave site is November 21, 1922. And, sure enough John Brazill (1922-2002) was a Leading Signalman with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) during World War II. He shares his plot at the National Field of Honour with his wife, Martha Farrell (1925-2018). 

The envelope is heavily foxed. Foxing results from metallic impurities (e.g. iron) and mold growth in the paper encouraged by humidity. I collect antiquarian books and I see it much more often in old books than coves. However, warm, damp air at sea is the perfect environment for long-term foxing. If this cover had ever been exposed to seawater spray, the salt would have retained moisture and encouraged the long-term oxidation of the kind we see here.

That's about as far out on a limb as I want to go (smile). With no contents, not dated cancel and no ID on the ship ... there is a limit to how far we can go. The censors and the security service of the RCN would have been proud.

Two-line unframed censor hand-stamp, in red
FROM H.M.C. SHIP
EXAMINED BY DB/N 667

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