1892 St. Pierre And Miquelon Cover

What do you think of this cover? I've never really known too much about it, but heard old St. Pierre & Miquelon stamps were fairly hard to come by.







cheers,

Andrew

Very nice...i like the areas that do not generate a lot of mail !!

Interesting. I find SPM to be one of those places that are little known of. Two small islands off the south coast of Newfoundland, but still a colony of France...it would be interesting to see how "French" they really are. Assumably they have their own televison station, for example, but probably also get Canadian and American stations as well. Ditto, radio.

Never been there, but one of these days...

I am liking them. I like back cancels.I wish they still did them.

Transit through NORTH SYDNEY / NS
Reception at BADDECK / NS

going by the dates and what I know of Nova Scotian geography. haven't been down in Cape Breton for years though. Beautiful.

Any idea who Angus McRitchie was? That would be neat to know.

I am not sure of the value of the stamps.

Doug

Hello Andrew......

Welcome to the club....


Sadly it is a reduced cover which would normally reduce it's value. (about 1/3 is missing) But, you are correct, pre-WWI covers and large pieces from SP&M are fairly difficult to find. SCV in my 08 Scott shows that stamp #25 (1891) has a value of $16.00 each. The first stamp is apparently missing the dash between the M and on, which could double or even triple it's value. There is an extra dot under the M on the third stamp which could add a small premium. The light but legible cancels are a bonus. A strip of 5 with a gutter is something that would add a small premium, except for the last stamp on the right, the strip appears to be in decent condition.

Overall it's a very collectible item and one I would personally like to have in my collection. Thanks for showing it.............do you have anything else similar ?


Also.....great job posting close-up pictures.

Well, with the addition of the "Esq" after his name, I think we could assume that Angus McRitchie was either rich (and therefore a "gentleman") or a professional of some sort. "Esq" was not bandied about back then -- there was a degree of entitlement involved for it to be used, and this was a convention understood by most people.

Assuming he lived in Nova Scotia, we do not know exactly where; "Mc"s and "Mac"s are very common in the province, and Angus is also a fairly common Scottish first name, so his name, altogether is almost as analgous as "John Smith" is in English settlements. I am sure that a look through the census rolls around this time would produce numerous Angus McRitchie's.

Luckily, the 1891 Census is online and is searchable. Guess what? Only 1 Angus McRitchie in all of Nova Scotia. He is listed as being aged 50 and living in Englishtown, where he worked as a farm labourer:





Additionally, the Nova Scotia Archives has, among its collections photographs of one Clara Dennis, who was, assumably a photographer of note, and here is a picture she took of Angus McRitchie of Englishtown:



Could this be the Angus McRitchie in question? It is possible, but perhaps unlikely.

The only other Angus McRitchie in Canada at the time is a 5 year old boy in Compton, Quebec, so I doubt it's him.

The only other possibility is that McRitchie was from Newfoundland, which was not yet a part of Canada in 1892, or perhaps he was living in the U.S. The unfortunate thing is that we do not have the rest of the address, so I guess the question could now be, "Where did the 25 centime rate pay postage to from SPM?"

Incidentally, most SPM stamps from this timeframe are quite rare. This particular stamp is listed at http://www.allworldstamps.com/count....asp?cid=281
(which uses SG numbers)for L.10.50 in used. Five of them would give you L52.50, but there may be a premium for the five on piece, especially since it appears you have a strip of five with gutter attached.

On the back you can see the receiving stamp for Sydney, NS, so its not too unlikely- especially if Sydney is near Englishtown

Thanks for all the info! I'll see if I can get a better photo of the space between "M" and "on". I do believe there is no dash. I got this one a few years ago and it's just been sitting in the back of my album ever since!

As for the photo taking- it comes from all the photos of coins that I do. I don't have a particularly amazing camera (mid-level point-and-shoot, which I got for my Birthday from the parents) but it certainly has amazed me! Even in low light it takes great close-up shots. For coins, I find I have to take pics at an angle to cut down on reflection- stamps dont reflect nearly as much light, which is really a bonus as I can take the shots head on.

Also, the last stamp is better than it looks in the shots- being on the edge it picked up a lot of light from my lamp. I'll get a direct, single shot of it this evening.

Thanks again for all the info guys!

Hey, I had missed the receiving stamp altogether.

Then we have the right Angus McRitchie, after all. Wow.

And yes, Sydney and Englishtown are very close together, as you can see from the map:



The internet can be the most useful thing!

That is Absolutely Amazing. Wow.

Okay so I've got some more photos for you guys

Here is the first stamp, which turns out to have a faint dash between "M" and "on", as shown.


HOWEVER, it is a small dash when compared to that of one of the other stamps:


And lastly, the final stamp on the line- it is in pretty decent shape, except for the top right corner which exhibits wear


Top Right Corner:


Hope this helps!

Can't be Sydney. Look at the cancel. There is another word before Sydney to make the whole name centered over the date.

It is reception into Canada at the harbour at North Sydney on Nov 29, then a day later the final reception at Baddeck on Nov 30.

North Sydney is just under the 125 on the red road. Baddeck is down that red road on the lake. Nowadays a subdivision of Victoria.

Baddeck is also the location of Alexander Graham Bell's summer home and much experimentation in his later years, from 1885 on through 30 years.

Perhaps if the Angus mentioned by WpgLwr is not our Angus (with the Esq.) then maybe it was someone (a lawyer? engineer?) involved with Bell?

Looks to be North Sydney to me...you can easily make out the last letter H before Sydney. This would make sense because of the fact that North Sydney was a seaport -- and mail would have to run aground somewhere.

Hi Andrew....

That last stamp also has a small tear at the bottom right near the end of the staff and a bent perf on the bottom. Also, by enlarging your original picture it is evident that there are a few missing perfs on the first two stamps. Still, overall it's a nice item.

I don't wish to sound as though I'm being super-critical but I view my own material just as closely. It doesn't matter whether one is buying or selling, all faults must be acknowledged to be as accurate as possible. Only then can a true estimate of value be attained.

Very true! Thank you for paying such close attention! Being a coin collector, I know there are many factors which can impact a coins value (wear, scratches, cleaning, rim damage, etc.) As for stamps, apart from the obvious (rips etc.) I'm not really sure what one is to look for.

Thanks for all the help!