I hadn't made the connection to Overseas Courier Service, so good call warrehouse. The Covert catalog mentions that the service operated in 1975 but didn't use any stamps. And of course the 1981 stamps featured Lady Di and Prince Charles (the service being operated in Victoria, B.C.)
As for the others, let the fun begin!
Fuddle Duddle Pierre: These refer to a comment made by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who in 1971 was accused of mouthing an expletive at another Member of Parliament, and when pressed by reporters, suggested that he had mouthed "Fuddle Duddle". Trudeau served as Prime Minister of Canada from 1968-1979, and again from 1980-1984. Originally pairs of the Canadian 1c definitive flower stamps (Scott #705) were overprinted with "P.E.T / '69 - '79 / R.I.P." and "FUDDLE / DUDDLE / PIERRE" in 1980, as a political mockery after he had lost the federal election. The private overprinting of Canada postage stamps, which had been tolerated somewhat by
Canada Post (e.g. Philatelic exhibition stamps from HINTONPEX'77 and PHILABEC 80) up to this point, subsequently became illegal. More recently (within the past year) the same overprint has been seen on the 12c Queen Elizabeth stamp, and 12c and 14c Houses of Parliament definitive stamps, and inverted on the 1c flower stamps. The overprint on these 4 last varieties is fainter indicating that they may have been produced more recently, or by a different printer than the original 1980 stamps. (Ref. BNA Topics #492p48-53; Corgi Times #60 p94-96.)
Pluto postage: Dan Dare, the "Pilot of the future", was a popular 1950's British comic book hero and chief pilot of the Interplanetary Space Fleet. The character's popularity led to multiple product endorsements, including a set of 32 "interplanetary postage stamps" as a promotional item for Lever Brothers (makers of Lifebuoy Soap) in 1953 in Britain. Eight of the stamps were then reprinted in the USA in 1958 as a sheet of "Interplanetary essays" by H. MacIntosh, owner of Tatham Stamp & Coin and Avalon Stamp Company, both of Springfield, Massachusetts. With the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and US President Kennedy's commitment to put a man on the moon before 1970, the space race was on and space-based paraphernalia was all the rage. It was therefore inevitable that a similar set of interplanetary stamps should be produced in Canada. Thus a set of 2 different sheets of 12 "Interplanetary Postal Essays" depicting planetary and space themes was produced in 1962 by Modern Publications Reg'd, St. Catherine's, Ontario, Canada, Earth. The Pluto postage stamp is one of 12 stamps from the second sheet, which is printed in bright primary colors (the colors on the first sheet are pastel shades with similar but not identical stamp designs).
British Columbia Private Courier (1984). From a set of three local post stamps used in 1984 depicting animals feeding. The other two stamps are a bear eating a fish ($1.50) and a weasel eating a mouse ($4.50). Great subjects for stamps! The same company operated the local post servcie from 1981 to 1989, with other stamps issued almost every year.
Juan de Fuca Despatch: Perhaps the Canadian local post service longest in operation and certainly the one that has issued the highest number of different stamps. It began in 1965 in response to a Canadian postal strike, and transported mail in both directions between Victoria, B.C, and Port Angeles, Washington. A large series of stamps was issued using multiple ink and paper color combinations and used on transported mail and parcels, before the service was discontinued in 1991. This particular stamp ($1.25 registered) was from the first series issued in 1975.
Sea otter: anybody's guess where this comes from, but most likely West coast (Vancouver aquarium??)
Winnipeg-Pembina: In response to a Canadian postal strike in 1975, noted stamp dealer Kasimir Bileski set up a local postal service between Winnipeg, Manitoba and Pembina, North Dakota that continued until 1984. A total of 22 stamps were issued that featured a reproduction of the famous "Pembina Twins". These were a pair of the 7˝ pence Dominion of Canada Queen Victoria stamps found on a cover from Pembina to Montreal and cancelled with the bold PEMBINA postmark on Nov. 2, 1858. The cover survived until 1906 when a collector soaked the stamps off, and cut them apart. The stamp with the "PEM" portion of the postmark turned up in a London auction in 1906, the one with the "BINA" portion was sold in a 1921 auction in New York. The stamps were finally reunited in 1936 by Dr. Lewis Reford and Col. John S. O'Meara of Montreal, who having separately bought each half, realized that they could be fit together perfectly. The seals from 1975 also have separate Latin inscriptions: Alia tentanda via est (a different way must be tried) and Spero meliora per Pembina (I hope for better things by way of Pembina). Stamps from subsequent years featured various means of transportation used in the Winnipeg-Pembina area, or historical post offices. These were attached to letters on either the front or the back in addition to regular postage. Two different stamps were issued per year (except 1979, 4 stamps issued) in sheets of 15 (3 x 5).
Very nice and interesting items, once their stories are told!
Cheers,
Ron
Posted 12/27/2011 12:08 am
