Saturday, July 31, 2010

Chickering Designed Cachets For Canadian Stamp Issues

Charles R. Chickering (1891-1970) was a U.S. stamp designer at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) from 1947 to 1963. During that period he was given sole credit for the design of 66 stamps and joint credit for the design of 11 others.


Designed by Charles Chickering

Chickering retired from the BEP in 1963 and soon after was hired by Gladys Jackson of Jackson Cover Service to design cachets. Chickering designed cachets for U.S., U.N., and Canadian stamp issues for Jackson from 1963 until his death in 1970.

In this post I will be showing some of the beautiful cachets designed by Charles Chickering for Canadian issues from 1964 to 1969. The inspiration for this post comes from Mark Lerner who has written a well researched article about Charles Chickering for the July 15, 2010 issue of the American First Day Cover Society's Journal First Days.


London Conference 1966
Chickering Cachet





Identifying Chickering Designed Cachets

I have seen three marks on Chickering designed cachets: "Chickering", "CRC", "C"


Chickering was the most common identifier


Overseas Mailers and Jackson/Chickering First Day Covers


I must side-track a bit and tell you about Overseas Mailers Ltd. which was established in 1950 by Jay Leach of Hicksville N.Y. to sell stamps. In 1953 Leach began to design and print hand-painted first day covers. A few years later he began selling first day covers produced by other companies which he modified. Modifications included added cachets and text, as well as hand water- colouring. Leach provided his customers with an insert which described the stamp and the cachet.

Leach favoured Jackson/Chickering cachets for his embellishments. In some cases he made no modifications and simply included the descriptive insert. I will identify the Leach modified covers in this article.



Leach modified Chickering cachet:
  • Added cachet : fleur de lis and lion
  • Water-colouring of bridge
Leach Insert:




1964 Issues

Promotion of World Peace


Leach add-on cachet


Royal Visit


Leach add-on cachet


Christmas Issue


According to Mark Lerner, this cachet was based on a design submitted to BEP by Chickering for the first U.S. Christmas stamp. The design was rejected for its overtly religious appearance.


1964 - 66 Provincial Flowers and Emblems Series


Quebec




Ontario




Nova Scotia




New Brunswick




British Columbia




Alberta




Saskatchewan




Prince Edward Island




Manitoba




Newfoundland




Northwest Territories




Yukon




1965 Issues

Sir Wilfred Grenfell




Canadian Flag




Winston Churchill




Leach embellishments


Interparliamentary Union/ Ottawa National Capital




Christmas Issue


Cachet designed for US issue



Leach modified the Chickering US cachet for the Canadian issue
"Canada" printed at the top of the cachet
Leach also embellished with water-colouring





1966 Issues

Alouette II




La Salle




Highway Safety




Leach embellishments


London Conference




Peaceful Uses of Atomic Power



For this issue, Leach serviced his customers with the unmodified Chickering cachet. He did however print the following insert:




Commonwealth Parliamentary Association




Christmas Issue




1967 Centennial Definitives

Chickering designed cachets for each of the twelve denominations of the Centennial definitive issue.

Regions of Canada : 1 cent




Regions of Canada : 2 cents




Regions of Canada : 3 cents




Regions of Canada : 4 cents




Regions of Canada : 5 cents




Paintings of Canada : 8 cents




Paintings of Canada : 10 cents




Paintings of Canada : 15 cents




Paintings of Canada : 20 cents




Paintings of Canada : 25 cents




Paintings of Canada : 50 cents




Paintings of Canada : $1.00




1967 Issues


100th Anniversary of Confederation


Leach add-on cachet


Expo 67


Leach add-on cachet


Leach insert


U.S. Commemorative for Canadian Centennial






Leach add-on cachet


Royal Visit




Votes for Women


Leach add-on cachet


Georges Vanier




Toronto Centennial




Canadian Press


Leach add-on


Christmas Issue




1968 Issues


Gray Jay


Leach add-on cachet


Meteorology


Leach add-on cachet


Narwhal


Leach add-on cachet


Hydrological Decade


Leach add-on cachet


Voyage of the Nonsuch


Leach add-on cachet


George Brown


Leach add-on cachet


Henri Bourassa


Leach add-on cachet


Christmas Issue




1969 Issues

Curling


Leach add-on cachet


Suzor-Cote




International Labour Organization


Leach add-on cachet


Alcock-Brown Trans Atlantic Flight




First Canada Summer Games




Leach embellishments: Cachet and water-colouring


Bird Series




Sir Isaac Brock




Leach embellishments: Cachet and water-colouring


Christmas Issue




Stephen Leacock


I have not seen any Charles Chickering designed cachets for issues after the Leacock stamp other than Christmas cachets produced for earlier issues.



Leach embellishments