Meaning Of Letter G On Canadian Stamps

What is the signifigance of the letter G on Canadian stamps?


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Official stamps. I always assumed G stood for Government, but I don't know for sure. You might also find Canada stamps with OHMS as overprint or perfin. These are also official stamps. I assume OHMS stands for On His Majesty's Stationary.

Service, not stationery,

Geoff, thanks for the clarification.

In 1949, perforation of Canada Stamps for official Government use was discontinued and the P.O. (Post Office) began overprinting "O.H.M.S." on stamps supplied to government offices. "O.H.M.S." was used for only one year, replaced by the single letter "G" in 1950. In 1963, Government offices stopped using "official stamps". (ref: Unitrade 2018, page 611)

G = Gouvernement or Government, depending on which of the official languages you wish to use.

There was a Canadian catalogue devoted only to the perforated O.H.M.S. I might add that the 5-hole types are harder to procure than the 4-hole types. The books I mentioned are: "Wrigley's Catalogue & Guidebook of Canadian Official Stamps 9th. Edition, Pub. J. & M.
Publishing, Vancouver, B.C. (year unknown), 71 pages and "Wrigley's Textbook & Guide to the Canadian Official Stamps, Pub. George S. Wegg, Toronto, Ontario 1963, 72 pages. These book are in my library.
The books I mentioned also listed the official overprinted types as well.

They also listed the different positions that are possible to find as well as varieties. In fact, they even have a brief historical outline on the 'black-out' cancellations that can be found on covers as well.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I'm assuming OHMS stood for "On His/Her Majesty's Service," so was an official government stamp of some kind. Since this phrase is not known much outside the British Commonwealth, it's worth noting, I think.

Yes Drew...that is what was posted in this thread and its history etc.
Rene

I understand the letter G is for official government use, but what does that mean? If the letter G is on the stamp, does that mean the government used them for free, or were these stamps used internally, like in a building for some special circumstances? Thank you to all!
Sue
(SueStamps)

The "G" overprint was used to stand for "Government" or "Gouvernment", in French.

They were for "free" use in the mails by the government officials in much the same way as our official stamps work. They are not really "free" because the governmental departments pay the mail service for the stamps but the overprint serves to prevent private non-"government business" use of the stamps. You cannot take some home for mailing your Christmas cards or the like.

Thank you bobmill !
That makes it so much clearer for me!
Thank you!!!!
Sue
(SueStamps)

"G" and "OHMS" stamps - and their use - operate under exact same rules as private sector perfins. They were all meant to prevent misuse (i.e. theft).

Five-Hole OHMS
First Issue: 1938
Last Issue: 1942

Four-Hole OHMS
Type I
First Issue: 1938
Last Issue: 1949

Four-Hole OHMS
Type II
First Issue: 1942
Last Issue: 1951

It should also be noted that the "G" was meant to be printed behind, or below the King/Queen's head. Variety O20i is the misplaced G variety on the 5 cent blue, where it is accidentally placed in front of the King (his face is pointing towards the G). I don't have this variety, but wish I did. The value for a Mint version jumps from around $3.00 to $125.00 in my 2014 Unitrade.

Unitrade also notes that O40ii is a misplaced overprint where the G is accidentally over the Queen's mouth. I'm still looking for that one too.