Fuddle Duddle

I noted, with a lot of satisfaction, that the editor of Unitrade has announced in the new 2014 catalogue that the overprinted 1¢ Gentians will be removed from future editions.



The 705iv stamp appears to be rather elusive. According to Unitrade, it is overprinted "Trudeau Fuddle Duddle". It hasn't been offered on ebay for as long as I've looked for it. (years)
On the other hand, a number of dealers have been offering alternative issues (some erroneously labelled as 705iv).



It is not clear where this pair originated.
That these stamps should never have been listed in stamp catalogue is obvious from the message Canada Post printed on the selvage:



I, for one, will be glad to see them gone, especially the Trudeau overprint and all its variations, which is an insult to the memory of a Canadian Prime Minister. Those not sentient in 1971 can Google "Fuddle Duddle".

I bought a few Fuddle Fuddle Trudeau ones on E-Bay, a couple years ago. Not that expensive. I'll try to post a sample later on today. I do not agree with removing the listing from Unitrade, as all these have been listed for over 20+ years, so to put them "underground" may be "politically correct", but Philatelists may be better staying out of the "politics" debate...What was said during the discussion was said. Can't rewrite history..
I'd also like to point out that the stamps were initially printed by the post-office, and stamp clubs used overprints to generate revenues at exhibition. The Fuddle Duddle ones are somewhat different, because, unlike the 704iii and v, there were not authorized. It would be interesting to find used ones that have gone through the post offices...

I have never considered these as acceptable varieties for the reason mentioned by Sak and am glad that Unitrade finally agrees with the stand that I have always taken.

In 1982, a 30 cent stamp was released to commemorate Mr. Trudeau's visit to Salmon Arm, B.C. For some inexplicable reason, The Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian Stamps has failed to list the stamp in its respected catalogue.

The Salmon Arm commemorative is shown below along with the Official Presentation Folder.

May be they belong to the Cinderella's catalogue? (just a thought)
Lord Denning, would you by any chance, have a couple for sale?

Not knowing much about Canadian stamps? What are these 705 overprints?

And the 1982 production is not even a postage stamp - says right on it that it is NOT valid for postage so why would any catalog (other than one for Cinderellas) carry it?

thanks

centerstage98




My post was meant in jest.

f you had lived in Canada during this period would have understood the reference.

Sorry Gilles, I don't have any extras.

Gilles le T
I would really like to see the #705iv you have, to assure myself that it exists and is different from the block of four I included in my first post.
Every person is entitled to express their political opinion, but not CP or Unitrade. The overprints should have been long gone.

Sak, here are some additional examples of the fuddle duddle overprint of Hon. Pierre E. Trudeau (P.E.T)








Other than the 1c, the others are not listed in recent Unitrade catalogue

Gilles le T
Yes, I see. Did you notice that the 1¢ Gentian that you posted was a pair, one of which reads "FUDDLE DUDDLE PIERRE" as do all of the stamps you posted of that group. They're on ebay a lot.
But, according to Unitrade #705iv is overprinted "TRUDEAU FUDDLE DUDDLE" and is NOT a pair - quite different. (which was the gist of my original post.)
So, perhaps #705iv does not exist.

Lord - I could not tell from your post that you were jesting .. sorry.
But no one explained this overprint Fuddle Duddle thing to me (in a nutshell). Was this a deliberate overprint for some reason? Like I said, I'm not Canadian and don't know the history.
Thanks.

centerstage98
Gilles le timbre explained how stamp clubs overprinted the 1¢ Gentian (705 & 781) as a way of raising funds and how the Trudeau overprint seems to be different.
A lot of anti-Trudeau overprints exist, from the same era, but only one is included in Unitrade. How, as a cinderella, it slipped through editing is a mystery.
Recently, ebay has been offering quite a few:





Unseen (so far) are two more:

CHRETIEN LALONDE MACHEACHEN / THREE BLIND MICE
TRUDEAU'S CHARTER OF RIGHTS / 30 JUNE 81 / ITS TIME HAS PASSED..

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada for 15 years (1968-84).
The anti-Trudeau slogans concern his repatriation of Canada's constitution from Great Britain without the consent of Quebec, his attempts to take more control over Canada's oil industry from foreign (USA) companies and the designation of the Canadian government as officially bilingual (English/French).
The first two letters of "FUDDLE" hint at what he actually said in the House of Commons on February 16, 1971.

In my opinion, none of these stamps have any place in any catalogue of Canadian stamps.

Sorry if I missed the point or am sounding ignorant, but did these Stamp Clubs get authorization from Canada Post ??

Or can anyone overprint postage stamps in Canada ??

Buying thousands of 1c stamps is quite cheap when you consider the return when selling them as Cinderellas for a huge mark-up. And it's surely illegal ??!

Anyone ?

Londonbus1

Yeah, Londonbus1. By "illegal" you mean used as postage? I have yet to see any on piece or passed through the mails.

As the thread gets a little longer, it becomes clearer. I hope you understand my confusion at the start. I am not a Cinderella collector and have never noticed these overprints in US stamps (or for any country, for that matter), but maybe I am not looking in those boxes at shows, online, etc.

So, if I can intepret all of this to now:

It looks like in Canada, clubs commonly (?) overprint stamps to promote shows, events, etc. Sometimes these promos, from clubs or perhaps privately, present political commentary.

The Fuddle Duddle ones were especially provocative because they referred to the PM. (But I am guessing an official club did not do those.)

There may or may not be a small market for these.

It is still unclear to me whether Canada Post is OK with the process, or not. My guess is that the overprints basically turn what was valid postage into a canceled/postmarked stamp, so it would be difficult to get them to go through the mail.

whew ...

A contact of mine received a handwritten note in 1980 from a "Domestic Sales and Market Development, Postage and Retails Products Branch" employee of Canada Post that says:




Unfortunately this note was not on official Canada Post letterhead so one could argue that it was not 'official' Canada Post policy. However, I trust my contact 100%, and that the note is official.

It is because of the dialog with this contact over the last year, and the confirmation of the note from Canada Post, that the overprinted Flower listings in the Unitrade will be removed in the next edition ... not because of any political reference to any overprints.

There are likely many stamp issues, officially released by Canada Post, that have a political connotation to them that upset some people. Should these be removed because someone disagrees with them? Political reasons should not be the deciding factor for listing/not listing an item.