Which Canada Stamp Is The Holy Grail Of Canadian Philately And Why?

Hi everyone
I am new here and its my first post on the forum.

For me the holy grail is the 12D black followed by the inverted seaway and the bluenose.
Probably the 3 most recognizable canadian stamps.

Hi Nelson Audet1 !
Welcome to the Forum. Good choice for 2 stamps I owned or own but what is a 12D black ??
My first choice in this thread was the Bluenose but now it is New Brunswick # 1,light cancel "28", RF8, bought recently.
René

Come on, René, even I know the 12d black!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_12d_black

...also renowned as the 'Black Empress'

@audetnelson1 - Welcome to the party!

I am simple minded.....I go with Unitrade/Scott #s.....this is # 3 for Canada - Sorry.....it must be the weather we are having ....our great Queen Victoria, 12d black 1851....which I will never own.......except if I win the LOTTO

One pardon from GeoffHa

Nelson Audet.....we are having fun, Blaamand included (incl.)- I hate acronyms

Well, it's going to be available:
Now, if I could only have one item of Canadian philately and I'd have to give up all the rest for now and forever, I'd want the combination 3d Beaver/strip of 5 of the US 5c cover from Toronto to London. That would be my Holy Grail.

https://www.stampcommunity.org/uplo...70815_HG.jpg



https://siegelauctions.com/lots.php...-1188-lot-26


Just a few thing keeping me from bidding on it - on top of the list is paying for it.

That is quite a cover! - wonderful write up by the auction house. The recipient was also certainly an important figure in 19th Canadian history - I attended a school named him and later the university he was first principal of.

The Beaver cover has always been an interesting item. For as long as I can remember, there have been discussions about the usage.

Part payment of Canadian postage, combined with the pre-payment by US stamps corresponding to a US-British treaty.

Then franked as it is, it certainly merits some scrutiny.

That said, I think it is what it is - one that went through exactly as it appears. For whatever reason, Canada let it go through, and then the US basically treated it as one of their own, from there. Odd, but when thought of under those terms, it makes sense.

I will say that misunderstandings about US/Canada/BNA rates seemed to occur with some regularity, in this era, so its not terribly surprising.

It is definitely an amazing cover.

Not really a Holy graal but considering the number of panes made (1200), and that many sheets remain intact, many broken sheets extracts the mini SS and strips of 5, how many sets of pairs could there be, on mail that actually went through the mail?