2023

The May issue (Vol. 12, No. 2) of the Pence-Cents Era Study Group newsletter is posted.

Jim Jung contributes two articles on plate flaws:
► A misplaced entry on the Pence Issue 7½d. Besides describing the flaw, Jim Jung makes an important point about the financial value of such flaws.
► A compendium of flaws on the First Cents Issue 5¢ Beaver with illustrations drawn from stamps in his collection and that of Michael D. Smith.

Vic Willson describes new discoveries on Berri duplex postmarks.

Ron Majors continues his exploration of printed matter rates and destinations during the First Cents Issue period. In this part, he focuses on interprovincial mail.

View the newsletters of the Pence-Cents Era Study Group

The May 2023 issue (No. 31) of Dots and Scratches, the newsletter of the Re-entries and Constant Plate Varieties Study Group, is online.

The issue begins with a mystery on an attractive plate block of the 1898 Numeral 2¢ purple presented by Peter Spenser.

John Breukelaar continues his discussion of plate flaws on the Nova Scotia 8½ Cent Queen Victoria.

The transfer roll crack on the 1851 3d Beaver is well known, but the N-flaws were relatively obscure until Michael D. Smith's exhaustive article in 2022. Do these two flaws have anything in common besides the fact that they occur on several positions of the plate? Yes they do, as convincing argued by Scott Robinson.

Scott Robinson also features several album pages showing how he illustrates and documents plate flaws.

The newsletter also has a potpourri of plate flaws from several contributors: Earl Noss has flaws on the 1¢ and 2¢ First Cents issue; Arnie Janson illustrates a pair of the 1898 Numeral 1¢, both with prominent re-entries; and Jim McCormick shows plate flaws on several 5¢ Beaver stamps.

View the May issue of Dots and Scratches.

The initial seminar schedule for BNAPEX 2023 Halifax has been posted. To date, nine study groups will be meeting at the convention.

View the seminar schedule

The May news bulletin of the Newfoundland Study Group has been posted.

The news bulletin features:
►  Feedback from Blair Ashford and Tony Thompson regarding the 5¢ Caribou Blitz stamp
►  Comments by John Walsh about the cancellation on a Grands Falls cover
►  A travelogue by Tony Thompson describing an open-air stamp and coin bourse at the Central Market of Valencia
►  Questions from Klaus Wehlt about a 1¢ U.S. postal stationery postcard from Garfield, New Jersey
►  The discovery by Blair Ashford of a "POSTAGE PAID" label purchased at ORAPEX
►  Flaws found by Earl Noss on the 1910 John Guy issue 2¢ coat-of-arms stamp. Are they constant?

View the May news bulletin (scroll down to "Study Group News" near the bottom of the page)

As of mid-May, 16 exhibits have been entered in BNAPEX 2023 Halifax. The list of exhibits is posted along with their synopsis and title page.

Go to the Exhibits page and click on "View exhibits list".

In March, BNAPS published The BNAPS Catalogue of Canadian Military Mail Markings Volume 1 – Early Forts to pre-World War 2. The book was compiled and edited by G. Wayne Schnarr.

This new book joins Volumes 2 and 3, which were compiled and edited by the late C. Douglas Sayles, to complete the catalogue of Canadian military mail markings. It covers early markings to 1909, militia camp and other military post offices in Canada 1909 – 1941, the WWI Canadian Expeditionary Forces in the United Kingdom, on the European continent in France, Belgium and Germany, and also in Siberia. The final chapter covers WW 1 internment operations in Canada.

View information on new BNAPS books

The May issue of Beaver Chatter (Vol. 48, No. 1), the newsletter of the Prairie Beaver Regional Group, is posted.

The Group is holding an in-person day-long meeting on Saturday, 27 May. The meeting agenda includes three presentations. Details in the newsletter.

Vic Willson comments on the 17 March Eastern Auctions sale of the first part of the Ron Brigham Pence and Cents collection. He also discusses mail from the Klondike to overseas destinations. Denise Stotts writes about the "Baby Sisters" trial printings by British American Bank Note Co. on its then newly installed Goebel press in 1967.

View the Beaver Chatter newsletters

Exhibit and non-exhibit awards won by BNAPS members between January and March 2023 are posted.

The exhibit awards are for BNA exhibits at National exhibitions in Canada and the U.S. and at International exhibitions. The non-exhibit awards recognize the philatelic achievements of members.

Thanks to Adri Veenstra for compiling the listing.

View the 2023 awards

The April newsletter of the Fancy Cancel & Miscellaneous Markings Study Group, No. 94, is posted.

The contributors include Guy Jefferies, Gregoire Teyssier, Randy Evans, Richard Creighton, Richard Hautala, Brian Hargreaves, Martin Schofield, and Mike Halhed.

Fancy cancel place names featured in the newsletter include:
►  From Ontario: Baillieboro, Black Creek, Cornwall, Gravenhurst, Kingston, Newton, Ottawa, Port Carling
►  From Quebec: Drummondville East, Montreal
►  From New Brunswick: Chatham, Miramichi

In addition, Dave Lacelle lists his criteria for listing a fancy cancel, and comments on early (like, Small Queens early) OHMS overprints.

View the Study Group newsletters

The Perfin Study Group has published the April issue of its newsletter, The BNA Perforator (No. 167).

Jim Graham leads off with an article describing three WW II OHMS covers showing the evolution of the War Supply Board to the Department of Munitions and Supply.

Russell Sampson explores the different positions of the Canadian General Electric C15 perfin with the help of a "mirror block" on cover.

In his second article, Jim Graham traces the evolution of missing pins on the Canadian National Railways C29 perfin with the help of postmarked copies showing the date.

View the Perfin Study Group newsletters

The BNAPEX registration form has been posted. There are two versions of the form: computer-fillable and manual.

The convention souvenirs consist of ten attractive Picture Postage™ stamps and cachet covers highlighting folk art mailboxes in Nova Scotia. Images of the stamps and covers are posted.

The list of dealers attending the bourse has been updated.

View the BNAPEX convention news

The April issue (Vol. 14, No. 2) of The Annex, the newsletter of the Squared Circle Study Group, is available.

The issue features an article by Brian Copeland about the unique use of the number "37" in the squared circle time mark slot by the postmaster of Morden, MB, during 1897. The issue includes a round-up of new reports and updates of squared circle postmarks.

View the newsletters

Robert Lemire of the Postal Stationery Study Group has updated the addendum to the listing of the postage-prepaid Postcard Factory® Cards in Webb’s Postal Stationery Catalogue of Canada and Newfoundland 2019.

The addendum contains corrections and additions to the listing of Postcard Factory® cards, primarily for cards prepared using dies IIIc and IIId (pages 238-259 of the catalogue). The updated addendum was compiled on 16 Jan. 2023.

Robert welcomes reports of new or modified cards, and will include them in future editions of the addendum. His contact information is given in the addendum.

New ORE contributions

BNAPS has appointed Brad Fallon as Circulation Manager. He replaces Ken Lemke who passed away last December.

Are you curious about what the Circulation Manager does? If so, the link below describes his responsibilities and lists the previous BNAPS members who have filled the role.

BNAPS circulation manager info

Just posted are two publications from the Newfoundland Study Group, the April newsletter (No. 191) and the March news bulletin.

The newsletter features three contributions:
►  Earl Noss illustrates two re-entries plus a cover from Trinity to St. John's with a Hall's Bay R.T.P.O. cancel.
►  John M. Walsh and Robin Moore conclude their study of wet and dry printings of the Perkins Bacon 1932 First Resources Issue.
►  Klaus Wehlt describes the life and travels of German stamp dealer Otto Bickel. Bickel's travels graced Newfoundland collectors with covers to several exotic locations.

As usual, the March news bulletin covers a variety of subjects:
►  There is a review of the 19 March Zoom meeting with presentations from Klaus Wehlt, Tony Thompson, Gregory Pope, Brian Stalker, and Dave Bartlet.
►  John M. Walsh and Robin Moore were given the Robert J. Pratt award for their research on the Perkins Bacon wet and dry printings.
►  Tony Thompson comments on the EKU of the 5 cent Caribou Blitz stamp reported by Blair Ashford.
►  Gregory Pope requests information about some Grand Falls covers flown to Halifax.

Newfoundland Study Group newsletter and news bulletin

Earle L. Covert has updated the listing of illustrated indicia for permit mail. The 15 March 2023 update adds 859 new permit mail indicia and 76 new bulk mailers to the 15 February 2022 listing.

Canada Post introduced illustrated indicia for permit mail in 2006. The listing includes all those known to exist plus the "forerunners", indicia with illustrations that appeared before 2006. The total number of permits in the listing is 4,793. The total number of bulk mailers is 892.

View the list of illustrated indicia for permit mail

BNAPS published the book Red/Carmine, 1ȼ Victoria Maple Leaf Issue Advertising Postal Stationery Cards: A Synthesis by Christopher Ellis.

The 202 page book discusses the 1¢ red Victoria Maple Leaf post cards first issued in 1898 and used until late 1903. It provides a detailed history of these cards including dates of release, ideas about their design, design changes over time, the formats in which they were released to the public, and the postal regulations regarding their use.

The hundreds of illustrated cards demonstrate their postal use and the many different products and services that they advertised. The result is a fascinating snapshot of the social and commercial aspects of the late Victorian era.

View list of new BNAPS books.

The British Columbia Postal History Study Group recently published the March issue of its newsletter, No. 125.

Morris Beattie contributes the "Favourite Cover" feature, a postcard mailed from Nanaimo to Seattle in 1910 showing a ship at a dock. Which ship? Which dock?

Dale and Bob Forster provide a census of 1822-1849 fur-trade mail in private hands from and to the trading posts on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, now in British Columbia, and in Washington State.

Tracy Cooper explores the San Juan Island border dispute (aka "The Pig War") between Great Britain and the United States.

Morris Beattie provides examples of mail associated with the British Columbia salmon canning industry. From 1870 to 1950, 223 canneries existed along the coast at one time or another. The number of fish plants along the coast declined from the 1950s onward.

View the March newsletter

Final notice regarding disposition of the BNAPS Exchange Circuit

All claims for material submitted to the Exchange Circuit must be received by BNAPS by end of day 30 April 2023.

The initial web pages for BNAPEX 2023 Halifax have been posted. The convention takes place on 15-17 September.

View the BNAPEX 2023 Halifax web pages

The February news bulletin of the Newfoundland Study Group, Study Group News, features several articles and announcements:

►  List of speakers for the Study Group's Zoom meeting on 18 March
►  Blair Ashford illustrates a cover that appears to be an EKU of the 5 cent Caribou Blitz stamp
►  Anthony Thompson follows up on Malcolm Back's request in the previous news bulletin for information on Prints Trysack Impresos Drukwerk, a Dutch printing firm
►  Malcolm Back describes a stamp with an Edwin Cleary unauthorized overprint reading "1st Atlantic Air Post, Martinsyde, Raynham, Morgan."
►  Information on the Québec City Old Paper Show to be held on 28-29 October 2023

View the February issue of Study Group News.

The Perfin Study Group's February newsletter, No. 166, features two articles:

► Jim Graham discusses the use of Montreal Rolling Mills Company (MRMC) perfins on covers from wholesale merchants for the types of products manufactured by MRMC. The article is part of a series on perfin mismatched covers.
► Russell D. Sampson explores the use of complimentary CPR and CNR perfin stamps for airline passenger mail.

View the Perfin Study Group newsletters

The February issue of The Roundup Annex (Vol. 44, No. 1), the newsletter of the Squared Circle Study Group, is online.

The issue features an article on the use of the London, ON, squared circle during the Admiral period, and illustrates some very scarce squared circle strikes from the collection of Bill Pawluk.

The newsletter also has another helping of squared circle reports.

View the Squared Circle Study Group newsletters

BNAPS published 65 issues of BNA PortraitS between 1993 and 2009. The newsletter reported on the activities of the Society and its study and regional groups. It provides an indispensable historical record of the Society's activities during the time it was published.

All 65 issues are posted on the website. Thanks to Charles Livermore for providing electronic copies of the newsletter.

Access is restricted to BNAPS members. You must log in to view the newsletter.

View the issues of BNA PortraitS.

The awards won by BNAPS members for BNA exhibits between October and December 2022 are posted along with a year-end summary

The number of competitive exhibits and exhibitors in 2022 set records that will be tough to beat.

Thanks to Adri Veenstra for compiling the listing.

View the 2022 BNA exhibit awards

BNAPS released four books in September 2022. Three of them are part of its Exhibit Series.

►  Canadian Permit Postage 1903–1998 - Dieter Staecker
An enhanced version of the exhibit that won the Allan Steinhart Reserve Grand Award at BNAPEX 2021 Virtual, this book covers Permit Indicia up to the series of 1990.

►  The Early Postal History of Northern Ontario - Nicholas Escott
Chronicles the development of mail services in Northern Ontario from the Hudson’s Bay Company fur traders in the early 1800s to the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s.

►  Pioneer Mail Flights, the Semi-Official Air Post, and Canada's Air Mail Development, 1918-1934 - Alec Globe
Studies the development of air mail within Canada through pioneer mail flights and the Semi-Official Air Post from 1918 to 1934. Shows how the Post Office phased out the Semi-Official Air Post by contracting air mail from 1927 to 1934.

►  Byron Harmon Post Cards: Listings of Real Photoviews - Earle L Covert
American-born Byron Harmon came to the Canadian Rockies in 1903 and became the official photographer and a charter member of the Alpine Club of Canada. Today, eighty years after his death, prints and post cards of his photographs are still popular.

View book details and ordering information.

The January issue (Vol. 12, No. 1) of the Pence-Cents Era Study Group newsletter is available.

It features three stamp articles:
►  Jim Jung discusses the T flaw on the Cents issue 1¢ value
►  Jim McCormick describes the "scratch in the neck" flaw on the Cents issue 2¢ value
►  With the help of Earl Noss, Michael D. Smith, and Terry Wilson, Jim Jung illustrates a gouge flaw on the Pence issue 3d Beaver.

There is also a well illustrated postal history article by Ron Majors exploring printed matter rates and destinations during the Cents issue period.

View the newsletters of the Pence-Cents Era Study Group

The Prairie Beaver Regional Group held a day-long meeting in College Station, Texas, on Saturday, 17 December.

The meeting included a review of recent BNA philatelic literature, a clothesline exhibit, a trade-and-sell session, show-and-tell, and presentations by Vic Willson, Jay Stotts, and George Dresser. A meeting report is now posted.

View the meeting report

The Newfoundland Study Group has published a second news bulletin in January.

In this issue of Study Group News:
►  Chris Hargreaves provide details of the auction of the Newfoundland Air Mail 1919-39 collection assembled by Jean-Claude Vasseur
►  There are notes on a new book, Mail from the French Shore of Newfoundland by James R. Taylor and Henk Slabbinck
►  Malcolm Back is looking for information on three covers from Prints Trysack Impresos Drukwerk, a Dutch printing firm
►  John Walsh announces the publication of the 2024 edition of his Newfoundland and BNA catalogues.

View the second January issue of Study Group News. Click on "Jan #2".

The Société d’histoire postale du Québec has published Volume 2 of Cimon Morin's study of the postal system in Quebec from 1763 until the creation of the Post Office on 5 April 1851. The book title is La poste coloniale au Québec 1763-1851, vol. 2 : Les Cantons de l’Est et les environs.

Volume 2 covers the 69 post offices located in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. It has over 500 pages and includes more than 750 illustrations.

View book details and ordering information.

17 newsletters from 5 study groups were posted recently. The year of publication, study group, and number of issues are listed below:

► 2017 Large and Small Queens - 1 issue
► 2017 Military Mail - 4 issues
► 2017 Postal Stationery - 4 issues
► 2017 Revenue - 4 issues
► 2018 RPO - 4 issues

These study groups have requested a delay of up to five years between publication of their newsletters and posting on the website.

The Perfin Study Group has dropped the five-years delay between publication of its newsletter and posting it on the BNAPS website. The Group's newsletters are now posted immediately upon publication. All the newsletters published between 2017 and 2022 (18 issues) are now available online.

Several other study groups have no delay period. Their newsletters were posted immediately upon publication in 2022. The study groups include:

► Air Mail - 5 issues
► British Columbia Postal History - 4 issues
► Fancy Cancel and Miscellaneous Markings - 4 issues
► Map Stamp - 3 issues
► Newfoundland - 4 issues (newsletter); 2 issues (news bulletin)
► Pence-Cents Era - 4 issues
► Re-entries and Constant Plate Varieties - 2 issues
► Squared Circle Cancels - 6 issues

The King George VI Study Group posts its newsletters on the BNAPS website immediately upon publication. Access to the newsletters published within the last two years is available to all BNAPS members, not just Study Group members. Issues older than two years are accessible to all viewers. In 2020, two issues were published. They are now accessible to all.

These newsletters are an invaluable resource, especially for those collecting the subjects covered by the Study Groups. Thanks to all the editors and contributors.

View the study group newsletters

On 1 January, four BNAPS members became Emeritus members, having been with BNAPS for the past 40 years.

View the list of Emeritus members

The Jan.-Mar. newsletter (No. 190) of the Newfoundland Study Group is available.

Luc Selis discovers the fascinating story of an 1825 cover that journeyed from Newfoundland to a merchant and shipowner in France.

Anthony Thompson discusses a large block of the 5¢ Caribou printed by Waterlow.

John M Walsh and Robin Moore continue their exploration of design size differences on Newfoundland stamps.

View the Newfoundland Study Group newsletters

The Perfin Study Group published the January issue of its newsletter, No. 165. Among the articles:

►  Michael Behm explores the Merrick Anderson Company of Winnipeg. Perfins from this company are found on stamps from the 1911 Admiral and 1930 KG V Arch issues.
►  Bob Szymanski discusses the valuation and pricing of perfins.
►  Jim Graham provides further information on when Robert Simpson Ltd. stopped using perfins.
►  Russell D. Sampson makes an interesting connection between a cover with John Bayne Maclean perfin stamps and the cover's addressee.

View the Perfin Study Group newsletters

A memorial has been posted for BNAPS past President Ken Lemke OTB. He passed away on 17 December.

Ken was President of BNAPS from 2018 to 2020. Until his passing, he was the Circulation Manager for BNA Topics and editor of the King George VI Study Group newsletter, King George VI Post & Mail.

Ken was also Vice-President of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada, Secretary of the Postal History Society of Canada, and Director of Programming for the Philatelic Specialists Society of Canada.

A new contact for the circulation and back issues of BNA Topics will be announced in the coming weeks.

View Ken's memorial