2023

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.

View the final notice.

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/cite>. 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