Canada's prime Ministers series of 1951-1955
by John Burnett (ENA2)
Originally published in Linns Stamp News
It all started a couple of years ago over the Christmas holidays when I had a few days off and was looking for something to do with my stamp collection. Like many longtime collectors I had my main collection (The Small Queen issue of 1870 - 1897). But the ever higher cost of adding better pieces to my collection limits it's acquisition to a couple of pieces a year and that was very frustrating.
That winter I resolved to look into modern Canadian material I had accumulated over the past few years. From that humble start I discovered two Canadian series from the 1950's that I hadn't recognized as such before, I am now assembling respectable and growing collections of stamps and covers of each of them.
The first of these is the Canadian Prime Ministers series - definitive sized stamps issued in twos at the rate of two per year in 1951 - 52 and 1954 - 55. The eight stamps are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 - The four pairs of stamps that make up Canada's Prime Ministers series were released in 1951 (top left) in 1951 1952 (top right) 1954 (bottom left) and 1955 (bottom right)
Paradoxically, the series has no stamps for the two men who were arguably the most influential of Canada's first dozen prime ministers, Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfred Laurier.
A quarter century before these stamps were issued, in 1927, Macdonald and Laurier were honored on a 1¢ and 5¢ stamps, respectively (Scott and Canada Specialized 141-41) and jointly on a 12¢ commemorative stamp (147).
Thus it is more accurate to say of these 1950's stamps, as Glenn Hansen did in The Guidebook and Catalogue of Canadian Stamps, that they are "a series on the Prime Ministers of Canada who had not been (previously) honored on postal issues."
In addition, unlike the 1940's presidential issue of the United States, the order in which the stamps of Canada's Prime Ministers series were issued has no relation whatsoever to the order in which the prime ministers served.
For example, William L. M. King, whose last term as prime minister was in 1948, was shown on the 1951 4¢ stamp (top row second from left, in figure 1). Alexander Mackenzie, Canada's second prime minister during 1873 - 78, didn't appear on a stamp until 1952 (top row far right).
But enough about the prime ministers lets look at the stamps.
Philatelically the series is a model of uniformity. All these monochrome definitive format stamps were printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company in 400 subject sheets on unwatermaked paper, perforated 12 and separated into post office sheets of 100.
There were two printing plates no. 1 and 2, for each stamp. All are common even the quantities printed are in the 50 million range.
No errors or significant constant flaws are recorded for the series. The challenge therefore is in the covers!
Beginning the series was the 3¢ Sir Robert Borden stamp (303) and the aforementioned 4¢ stamp for King (304), issued June 25, 1951.
The 4¢ King stamp paid the basic domestic first class postage for a letter within Canada and the first class postage for a letter to the United States at that time, so these covers are not to hard to come by.
The 3¢ Borden, which paid the 3¢ city (or drop) letter rate, is somewhat tougher to find. A drop letter was one that was dropped in a drop box, at the post office for delivery within the delivery area of that post office.
Figure 2 - An example of a drop letter.
Figure 2 is an example of a drop letter. The letter was mailed at London, Ontario, with the 3¢ stamp nicely tied by the August 30, 1951, Western fair / London Ontario / Sept. 10 - 13 slogan cancel. This cover would fit very nicely in a slogan cancel collection.
The cover also bears a Bevis Refrigeration with the Member Refrigeration Service Engineers Society emblem on the Cachet. I was a life long member of this society and spent my adult life in the refrigeration business and so if I ever decide to form a topical collection on the refrigeration industry here's a good cover for that collection. As you can see this one cover has the potential of fitting numerous collections, which is something you might want to consider when building your own collection.
In addition to the covers mailed to Canada and the United States, like the one mentioned in Figure 2 these stamps can be found combined and used in multiples to pay various overseas rates as well.
Among my favorites is a bottom left margin strip of five 3¢ Abbotts correctly franking a 1952 airmail envelope from Sault Ste. Marie to Heidelberg, Germany that is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 - A strip of five Abbott stamps makes up the 15¢ international air mail rate to Germany.
In putting this collection together I had two goals. The first goal was to put together a 32 display worthy pages, so that I could support my local stamp club with a two frame (traditionally 16 pages make up a frame) exhibit. The second goal was to not spend more than $5 on any one item.
Although the cover to Germany cost me $7.50 I have otherwise managed to meet both goals.
Much credit goes to a friend of mine and stamp dealer Hank Narbonne of Greenwood Stamps in Carelton Place, Ontario. I gave him the catalogue numbers of the stamps I was interested in finding postaly used on cover and my cost goals, and a week later a shoe box full of material arrived at my door. I can not emphasize to much, get to know the dealers and let them be of assistance to you in putting your collection together, it is in their best interest to help you build a collection and it is in your best interest to purchase from reputable dealers.
And I'm not through building this collection what with mint and used stamps, first day covers, plate blocks, perfins (Perforated initials in the stamp for security reasons) and a myriad of other uses, there's no reason the fun should ever stop.
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