Who was George
N. Burland?
This Swedish stamp was one
of four printed by the British American Bank Note Company in 1920 and my catalogue gives the engraver as George N. Burland. The others are the first dies
of the Lion sculpture, the triple crown and the crown and posthorn
stamps.
The British American Bank Note Company was formed in 1866 by two groups
of men, one led by William Cumming Smillie and the other by George Bull Burland. In 1881 Smillie retired and Burland bought his shares, becoming president.
He died in 1907 and his son, Jeffrey, took over as president. Jeffrey died in 1914 and was succeeded by H.W. Pillow from 1914-18.
After that, the company records that I can find simply say that other family members were involved in the running
of the company so it seems clear that George N. Burland was part
of the family, but which part?
Also, as he was obviously a competent engraver, why did he not engrave more
stamps for the company? I have found engravers for most
of my Canadian
stamps but he does not feature anywhere other than this small group from Sweden.
Of course, he could have been working mainly on banknotes or perhaps he got caught up in administration.
On an allied note, BABNC closed their doors in 2012 but the Bank
of Canada Museum seems to have been given a large quantity
of their dies and pro
ofs so we can hope that these become visible soon.
http://www.bankofcanadamuseum.ca/20...uisitions-6/
Posted 10/15/2016 5:27 pm
