Nice Surprise In One Of My Stock Books.

Hi guys...Was going through my stock book and came across one of my 1898 map stamps..I took a closer look at it..We know the map stamp was released in December 7th, 1898..Take a good look at my stamp..Prince Albert, December 2nd, 1898.

Robert

Robert,
Why crop out the rest of the cancel? It appears that there is another part of the cancel as shown below. The 27th?
Don

Don...I took it as being A.M....?
Could be, but now I am wondering if it is A.M. or a "7"..?

Robert

Hi Robert, The official release date was December 7, 1898. There are reports of early usage such as yours so it is possible some of these were sold and used prior to December 7. The rate these stamps were printed for didn't go into affect until Christmas Day 1898 thus the "XMAS 1898" commemorating the day of rate change. You have a nice early use stamp there provided the year is 1898 and not 1899. I can make out "5PM DE 27 18?" in the second image posted so not an early usage.

Mike

Ya...1898

Robert

Just heard back from my friend (who is an extreme authority on Canada stamps)..Mike knows him..He said rare to get a pre Jan.1st, 1898 stamp from a town out west before Jan. rate change and how long it takes inventory to get out West..So, I am happy...He said it is in the running for ERD.

Robert, is the cancel in fact Prince Albert? What does the partial MONT at the bottom refer to?

Not really sure BeeSee..Good question.

Robert

I suspect now the cancel is Prince Arthur St. in Montreal.

Wert,
Nice stamp, nice observation, early uses are often overlooked and I always look for them especially on covers. Just this last year, I bought two different covers that were EKU and advanced the dates for the issues. it shows that discoveries are still out there.

lastly, I note that the stamp's bottom headline is about a "Vast empire" and clearly tooting the horns of the British. Sort of funny when you realize today its not the case and even then--most of the red was Australia and Canada--both were well on the way to being independent entities not even 20-30 years later. history is a funny thing and stamps are part of that.

BeeSee, I think now you may be right...Still a nice stock book find of a Dec. 27th, 1898 map stamp.

Tommy..Good to hear you back on again.

Robert