1947 Alexander Graham Bell

Archives Canada

"The conception of the Telephone took place during that summer visit to my father's residence in Brantford in 1874, and the apparatus was just as it was subsequently made, a one-membrane telephone on either end ... The experiment of August 10, 1876, made from Brantford to Paris, was the first transmission, the first clear, intelligible transmission of speech over the real line, that had ever been made."

A. G. Bell at Boston, Massachusetts, March 13, 1916

On March 3, 1947, Canada Post Office issued a 4 cent commemorative stamp honouring the birth centenary of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. The stamp was designed by Herman Schwartz and the picture was engraved by Silas Allen.

Retouched photo vignette on engraved and hand drawn frame (l); issued stamp (r)

 First Day Covers

Usages

Domestic Letter

Vancouver to Edmonton, April 17, 1947

Brantford to Hamilton, March 5, 1947

Brantford to Toronto, April 17, 1947

Toronto and Ottawa C.P.R. RPO (No. 5) to Mount Pleasant, March 23, 1947

Bell Telephone Company Correspondence and Perfin

Montreal to St. Jean, Que., September 22, 1947

Air Mail to the U.S.

Vancouver to New York, July 7, 1947
7 cents air mail letter rate

International Surface Letter Preferential Rate

Calgary to Durban, South Africa, November 13, 1947
4 cents preferential international surface letter rate

 International Air Mail : Europe

Port Alberni to Berlin, May 17, 1947
15 cents air mail letter rate to Europe

Toronto to St. Gall, Switzerland, March 18, 1947
30 cents 2nd weight step air mail letter rate

Canada Official Postal Guides

 Postal history is a collecting field that is dependent upon primary sources of information. The Canada Official Postal Guides are at the top of my reference list. Until 1961,  the Guides were printed in book form, usually on an annual basis. Postmasters and postal personnel relied on the Guides and  their monthly supplements to keep up to date on Post Office regulations, postage rates and  procedures to be followed in the handling of mail.

The Canadian Official Postal Guides from 1863 to 1900 have been digitized and can be viewed at  the Library and Archives Canada online database. Unfortunately Canadian Official Postal Guides beyond 1900 have yet to be made available, but recently the Monthly Supplements from 1913 to 1932 have been added to the data base:

• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1913 to 1916 [PDF 47,161 KB]
• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1917 to 1920 [PDF 38,540 KB]
• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1921 to 1924 [PDF 84,279 KB]
• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1925 to 1926 [PDF 68,796 KB]
• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1929 to 1930 [PDF 74,558 KB]
• Monthly Supplement to Canada Postal Guide, 1931 to 1932 [PDF 82,508 KB]

(Opening the PDFs takes a few minutes)

The supplements are a rich source of information and their inclusion in the database is appreciated, but it is hoped that Library and Archives Canada will be adding the Postal Guides from 1901 to 1961 to its database.

1940 Centennial of First Adhesive Postage Stamp

On May 6, 1840, Britain issued the world's first adhesive postage stamp,the "Penny Black", featuring an engraving of a young Queen Victoria.

This post shows Canadian philatelic commemoration of this historical event.

1. Hamilton

To commemorate the Penny Black's centennial, a slogan cancellation was produced for use at the Hamilton, Ontario post office on May 6, 1940.

MAY 6TH 1940
CENTENARY
OF THE
POSTAGE STAMP

2. Toronto

The Canadian Philatelic Society of Toronto used a meter commemorating the centenary of the first postage stamp

Canadian Philatelic Society, August 9, 1940

Empress of Ireland

Canada Post Corporation issued two commemorative stamps and postal cards on May 29, 2014, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland.

Empress of Ireland, 1908

On May 29, 1914, the Canadian Pacific ocean liner Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence River near Rimouski, Quebec, following a collision with the Norwegian coal carrier, the Storstad. The ship sank within 15 minutes, claiming the lives of 1,010 of the 1,477 passengers and crew.Canadian Pacific hired a salvage company to retrieve mail and valuables. The cover shown below is an example of mail that was salvaged and forwarded.

To Bristol, England
Stamp washed away
Faint duplex cancellation
Recovered by divers handstamp in green ink

Recovered by divers from wreck of Empress of Ireland

Ottawa Dead Letter Office Handstamps

October 24, 1914

December 10, 1914

Canadian Museum Of Civilization : Empress of Ireland Exhibition 2014

The Canadian Museum of Civilization announced on October 29, 2012 that it had  acquired the most comprehensive collection of artifacts and archival material related to the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland, and was planning an exhibition in 2014 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

Bath Postal Museum

The Bath (Engalnd) Postal Museum has several Empress of Ireland covers in its collection.

The Niagara Falls Rocket Flight 1936

Rockets captured the public imagination in the 1930s with the launches of  experimental rockets designed to carry mail. In 1934, German rocket maker Gerhard Zucker attempted to convince the British Post Office that postal delivery by rocket was viable. After initial demonstrations on the Sussex Downs in England, rockets were launched in Scotland but exploded.  In 1936, Zucker agreed to make rocket flights in the U.S. and Canada in conjunction with the Third International Philatelic Exhibition (TIPEX) held in New York.

Niagara Falls Rocket Flights

Zucker was arrested in Germany before he could come to New York. German stamp dealer, Karl Henning, had prepared stamps, covers and cancellations for the flights which he brought to TIPEX along with the rocket launching rack. Although the Niagara Falls flight did not take place, the Henning souvenirs are colourful reminders of rocketry's pioneer era.

 

 

 

 

For more information see pages 449-450 in Air Mails of Canada and Newfoundland, American Air Mail Catalogue, 1987.

Readers may be interested in this:

1936 ZUCKER STAMPS ROCKET MAILED NEAR GANANOQUE