Author Archives: mwalsh

mpressive, amazing and wow! These are just a few of the words that hit me during my first few hours of being among the thousands of collectors and dealers gathered for the World Stamp Show at the Javits Center, located near New York City’s Times Square. Attending my first World Stamp Show, I was quickly drawn to the massive layout of exhibits. I have never seen such a large number of exhibits and frames under one roof. In fact, Thomas Fortunato, chairman of marketing and public relations, shared with me that the World Stamp Show hosted 706 competitive exhibits, representing 4,146 frames. The most common theme was postal history, representing 29.2 per cent of the exhibits; followed by traditional with 22.4 per cent; and – a distant third – one-frame exhibits with 11.9 per cent of the total competitive exhibits. Now, that’s an exhibition of worldly proportions. Just as impressive was the Canadian presence. Continue reading →

Canada Post has unveiled the images for its next series on Canadian photography. The fourth set in a five-year series culminating in 2017, this issue continues to showcase the best Canadian photographers and photography of the past 150 years – as chosen by leading curators and gallery owners. The domestic-rate stamps are a photographic feast, unfettered by time or technique. Continue reading →

On March 8 Canada Post released a new stamp that pays tribute to the women who fought and won the right to vote 100 years ago in this country. While the suffrage movement began to form nearly four decades earlier, the struggle to secure the vote did not significantly advance until the First World War, when women worked in hospitals, factories and offices, and often raised families alone, spurring demands for equality. In 1916, the women of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta became the first in Canada to win the right to cast provincial ballots. Designed by Winnipeg-based Tétro, the commemorative stamp is illustrated in the black and gold colours that symbolized the North American movement and incorporates the Venus symbol of femininity as the letters ‘O’ and ‘T’ in the word Vote. Vertical text in English and French at the right highlights the women’s suffrage theme and indicates the dates of its centennial. The official first-day cover features one of the most important figures of the women’s suffrage movement, Nellie McClung. Her portrait is set over an image of the 1915 petition to the Government of Manitoba that helped secure full political rights for women in that province. At the bottom is a black and gold banner reading ‘Votes for Women,’ one of several artifacts currently on display in a women’s suffrage exhibit at Winnipeg’s Manitoba Museum. Continue reading →