Canada FDC

The central focus of this issue is on the great diversity and creativity of FDC cachets produced by four relatively unknown makers. Polly Berndt of Hartville, Ohio has produced a relatively small number of colourful, all-over, add-on cachets primarily for stamps issued during the 1960s. J.F. Burns, who may have been a resident of Nelson, B.C., also worked with stamps issued during the 1960s and produced a small number of hand-drawn cachets. A set of hand-drawn and lettered cachets for the Cameo series was posted to, and may have been produced by, the Colliers of Ottawa.

The lead item consists mainly of a series of scans of covers made by renowned U.S.
cachet maker Ludwig Staehle. His grandson is working to preserve the Staehle legacy, and
agreed to share material that would be of interest to collectors of BNA. Robert Markovits has
presented a challenge to the FDCSG members to “collect complete sets” on FDCs, and Gordon
Payne provided us with some colorful, occasionally spectacular, cachets for U.S. wildlife stamps
that were originally released at CAPEX ’87 in Toronto.

This issue features article on three diverse topics. Harold Houston has provided an overview of the cachets sponsored by the Brockville-Prescott Stamp Club, and raises the prospect of other members doing similar articles about their own groups that have undertaken similar projects. Gary Dickinson outlines the various cachet makers who produced FDCs for stamps issued that featured topics related to the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Finally, John Van der Ven takes a close look at the general purpose cachets made by Toronto resident Gordon Bazeley

The two main articles in this issue deal with overprinted stamps, with the first one being Gary Dickinson’s review of the various ways in which FDC cachet makers dealt with the transitional version of the 1964 stamp used for air mail to the United States. The second article by Norris (Bob) Dyer presents earliest known uses of Newfoundland’s 1920 provisional stamps.

Shorter articles present a study by John Van der Ven of a general purpose cachet now attributable to U.S. maker Ludwig Staehle while Bruce Perkins reports some additional cachets by T.G. Wolstencroft of Kelowna.

This issue features an article by George Basher about the FDCs produced for the stamp issued to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953. I invited George to prepare this as the 60th anniversary of the coronation will occur during the current issue of First Impressions.

It's a departure from the usual content as it consists of two articles by Bruce Perkins, one a reprint from a decade ago and one a current update. Combined they represent a perspective on our hobby that should stimulate some thought and possibly further contributions to the newsletter in response. See the Covers page for links to all of the issues.

The latest edition of First Impressions is now available, Issue 13 for October - December 2012. See the Covers page for links to all of the issues.

The following is a list of the additions to the Member Albums in the Gallery on a week by week basis. The cover images are links that will take you to the Member's Album.

The most recent 10 weeks with entries are kept at this top level. See the summaries for earlier listings.

Most of my effort has been in the Gallery section of the web site. With over a dozen contributing members, there are now more than 12,000 images to view. If you are in the mood for browsing, there's lots to look at.

The Gallery is reaching a critical mass - over 10,000 images. Thanks to those contributing and a nudge to those who are still waiting. The FDC Specialist - Marcel Cools publication is slowly growing - check out the Covers section.
It's time for the next steps - cataloguing. I've started a Topic in the Discussion forum - please stop by and give us your thoughts. There's another one for general web content - let us know what else you think should be on the site.
../Doug