1973 Laval Commemorative Stamp:
A Design Disaster

François-Xavier de Laval (1623 - 1708) was the first bishop of Quebec City and founder of many educational institutions. He came to Quebec City in 1659 to serve as apostolic vicar in New France before becoming first bishop of Quebec in 1674. He started to establish the Canadian Church by giving it the strength and unity of the parochial system. Laval was inflexibly single-minded. Although willing to compromise on some issues, such as the scale of tithes, he fought an unrelenting battle against the liquor trade with Indians. With the king's backing and by quiet determination, Laval outlasted vociferous opponents, including governors.


Laval Stamp

The Canada Post Office stamp commemorating the 350th anniversary of the birth Laval was designed by Gerry Lorange and Michael Fog.



Unfortunately, the stamp was a design failure. The image of Laval printed in silver ink on an ultramarine background is difficult to make out and looks like a photographic negative. The gold text is lost in the dark background.


BABN Proofs

Although the Laval stamp was printed by Ashton-Potter Limited, the British American Bank Note Company (BABN) prepared essays for the stamp. The proofs and colour trials shown below were all produced by the BABN.

Image


National Archives of Canada
Laval Image in Orange


Text

The Ashton-Potter issued Laval stamp has a hyphen between the words "Francois" and "Xavier". The hyphen was not in the original BABN proofs and colour trials.

No Hyphen between "Francois" and "Xavier"

National Archives of Canada

Colour Trials


National Archives of Canada


National Archives of Canada


New Issue Pamphlet

First Day Covers

Canada Post Office Publicity First Day Cover

To Sweden

Shering

Canada Envelope Company

Jackson/Overseas Mailers

Grover

Rosecraft

Canada Post Office "Official" First Day Cover

Colorano "Silk"

The makers of the Colorano silk cachets produced first day cover of Canadian issue from 1973 to 1994. The Laval stamp was the first Canadian Colorano product.

David Pritchard

Usages

Domestic Letter

Trail to Calgary, February 7, 1973

8 cents domestic letter rate

A
ir Mail Letter to the United States

Toronto to Ettrick, Virginia, February19, 1973

10 cents air mail letter rate to the United States

Shortpaid 2 cents and taxed 4 cents

International Air Mail

Montreal to Vienna, March 14, 1973

15 cents air mail letter rate + 50 cents registration fee

AR card attached to envelope

1972 Earth Sciences Congresses

In July and August of 1972, Canada hosted four international organization concerned with the exploration and development of the earth and man's activities on the planet. More than 15,000 delegates from some 125 countries were scheduled to take part in various activities of the 22nd International Geographical Congress, the 24th International Geological Congress, the 6th International Conference of the International Cartographic Association and the 12th Congress of the International Society of Photogrammetry, the major assemblies of which were held in Montreal and Ottawa.

Canada Post Office issued four stamps which appeared se-tenant on miniature panes of sixteen stamps. The stamps, designed by Fritz Gottschalk, were released on August 2, 1972.

Geography

The geography stamp is an abstracted bird's eye view of a village situated at the intersection of main and secondary roads.




Geology

The geology stamp illustrates a cross-section of the crust of the earth showing different layers of materials.




Cartography

The cartography stamp shows a simplification of mountains drawn in schematic shape by using "Sigfried" lines.




Photogrammetry

The photogrammetry stamp is a visual simplification of the theme of the Congress.




First Day Covers

Canada Post Office Publicity first day covers







Publicity insert


Canada Post Office "Official" first day cover and insert








Grover




Rosecraft




Artopages




Kingswood (Fleetwood)










David Pritchard











Usage

International Air Mail

The stamps were issued in 15 cent denominations "suitable for use on mail destined for a large part of the earth's surface". The international "all-up" letter rate was 15 cents for each ounce.



Mission City to Munster, Germany, December 15, 1972
15 cents international letter rate


To the United States


Ottawa to Orange, Mass., August 24, 1972
10 cents air mail rate + 50 cents registration fee

A Recent Find:

1966 Incorrect Canadian Taxe Mark

In 1966, the Universal Postal Union introduced a fractional taxe method (Vienna system) to calculate the postage due on underpaid items mailed to international destinations. For the first half of 1966, Canada Post Office misinterpreted the UPU regulations and applied incorrect markings on some categories of mail. These errors were the subject of an earlier detailed article. The purpose of this brief post is to report a previously unknown 1966 Canada Post surface letter taxe marking error which has recently surfaced.

Readers are reminded that in 1966 there were two international surface letter rates in effect:

• 10 cents (first ounce) standard international UPU letter rate

• 5 cents (first ounce) preferential rate which applied to a number of countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Spain, South and Central America

The Vienna system required the sending postal administration (Canada) to apply a fraction with the numerator as double the deficiency and the denominator as the standard UPU letter rate.

NUMERATOR = Double the deficiency
DENOMINATOR = UPU surface letter rate

In order to understand the Post Office's misinterpretation of the Vienna system, let's consider a letter taxed correctly after the initial six month error period.

Correct Taxation

The 5 cent preferred surface letter rate applied to the letter below mailed from Montreal to London, England, March 13, 1968.



The letter was shortpaid 1 cent and the following correct taxe mark was applied:



NUMERATOR : 2 cents ( double deficiency)
DENOMINATOR : 10 cents (UPU surface letter rate)

The receiving post office (British) was to multiply the fraction by its own UPU surface letter rate. Since the British UPU letter rate was 9d. the British calculation would have been:

2/10 x 9d. = 1.8d.

The actual charge however was 3d. which was the minimum charge at that time.


Incorrect Taxation

The recently discovered incorrect marking was applied to the underpaid surface letter from Toronto to Scotland, January 11, 1966.



The letter was shortpaid 1 cent and the following incorrect taxe mark was applied:



NUMERATOR : 2 cents ( double deficiency)
DENOMINATOR (Incorrect) : 5 cents (surface letter rate to the U.K)
The denominator should have been 10 (10 cent UPU letter rate)

British Calculation

The British Post Office does not appear to have assessed a charge. If the Vienna system had been applied though, the amount due would have been double the correct amount.

Incorrect fraction calculation : 2/5 x 6d. = 2.4d.

Correct fraction calculation : 2/10 x 6d. = 1.2d

British UPU letter rate was 6d. up to October October 2, 1966

It would be interesting to examine underpaid surface letters to other preferential rate destinations to see how the charges were calculated by those receiving countries.


Canada Post Office Fractional Taxe Mark Errors

In summary, for the first half of 1966, Canada Post Office misinterpreted the newly introduced Vienna fractional system of taxation and applied incorrect markings. The following error marks have been observed so far:

Errors on Post Cards





Error on Printed Matter



Error on Surface Letters to Preferred Destinations

Royal Canadian Navy
Interwar Years
HMCS Saguenay

In 1930, the first destroyer designed and built for the Royal Canadian Navy, the HMCS Saguenay, was launched at Woolston, England.

HMCS Saguenay launching 1930

During the interwar period, the Royal Canadian Navy was a coastal defence force. Canadian destroyers were assigned the task of countering potential enemy surface raiders threatening shipping in Canadian waters. During the 1930s the Saguenay and other Canadian destroyers conducted yearly training exercises in the Caribbean with ships from Britain's Royal Navy.

HMCS Saguenay entering a port in the Caribbean (1934)

In 1938 HMCS Saguenay along with HMCS Skeena, HMCS St. Laurent, and HMCS Fraser, took part in a cruise which took them to South America. The cover below was mailed when the ship was in port at Callao, Peru.

Callao, Peru to Brantford, February 15, 1938

The 1938 cruise took the ships across the equator and to mark the occasion a "Crossing the Line" Certificate was created for crew members crossing the equator for the first time.

1938 "Crossing the Line" certificate

Reference: Canadian War Museum website

War Service

The HMCS Saguenay was assigned convoy duties during the war and survived both a torpedoing by an Italian submarine in 1940 and a collision with a merchantman in 1942. In the collision her depth charges were set off, and most of her stern was blown away.

1942 stern blown away

After this damage, the Saguenay could never be repaired for sea duty and spent the rest of the war as a training ship at Cornwallis, N.S.