"A" Non-Denominated Definitive

My apologies if this has been done to death already. Quite a while ago I read somewhere that Canada Post would accept A stamps as equivalent to P stamps. Can anyone verify?

Are you referring to "A" stamps from the USA or something else? Canada Post does not accept foreign stamps for mailing from Canada. Obviously they accept foreign stamps on items coming into Canada.

Having said that, I am sure most of us have seen items showing a US stamp affixed to and cancelled on an item mailed from Canada. That would be an exception due to lack of attention by someone.

That is true..BUT...There is one example of a foreign not existing country that is allowed to be placed on a cover to be mailed in Canada.



Robert

Well OK, but Newfoundland is now a province of Canada, so it really is not from a "current" foreign country. If we are going down that exception road there are more examples such as the UN issues that were used during EXPO 67 in Montreal, joint issues from foreign countries included in souvenir sheets, etc. However, I stand by my comment.

I suspect that the OP was referring to the 1981 Canadian Maple leaf emblem issue, showing a denomination of A (set at 30c).

Scott #907 (sheet) and #908 (coil)

Here is one of my covers as an example of Canadian and NFLD stamps used to mail within Canada...Just one example.

Robert

I think 22crows is right and the question is about this 1981 A stamp.



I wish I knew. I've googled it and have even looked to post a question on Canada Posts website. I suspect most CP counter employees have never seen one and wouldn't know.
I've been wanting to use my lone, and slight damaged copy on an envelope, but haven't had the nerve yet, without knowing for sure

I forgot about that 1981 issue and think both 22crows and jamesw are correct in what the OP was referring to. I jumped to the wrong conclusion in my initial response.

In 1981 I was in Hamilton with my son who was playing in a hockey tournament. Watching CBC, the reporter showed the new "A" stamp and cited it as a great error since Canada Post had misspelled "A". They then showed a stamp with the correct spelling, "Eh". I've never seen another reference to that broadcast.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I did mean the 1981 Canadian, eh. I have used them a couple of times and they did go through, but was wondering if anyone knew the true story. The "official" line is, of course 30c. Thanks again. Neil.

I have spoken to some experts on this and the stamp is 30c. (e.g. Andrew Chung)

If you use them alone, you are underpaying by 62c (as of present rate).

They go through just like a lot of letters with older stamps go through (not recognized by the system) - typically no cancels.

I would be interested to know if you ever receive a cancelled stamp. I happen to have an envelope that had a 30c and was cancelled (no postage due). So I asked exactly the same question a while back.

From a ca 1983 edition of the Lyman Standard Catalogue of Canada:

"The "A" stamp is valid for the carriage of mail in Canada only, and has a 30 cents value".

For those that don't know the reason for this stamp, there was a planned rate increase on 1 January 1982, but the new stamps had to be printed before the final rate was established.

Jan