Category Archives: Top Story

With a bit of help from Canadian club leaders, youth philately in the Philippines has flourished in recent years. The more than 60 members of the Peace Arch Stamp Club, based in Surrey, B.C., have provided a young Filipino collector with tens of thousands of stamps plus financial assistance in recent years to help him... Continue reading →

A Nova Scotia collector found and mailed several of this year’s holiday stamps at a rural post office three days before their official issue date. Canada Post released a religious “Christmas Star” stamp plus a secular “Holiday Birds” set with domestic-, U.S.- and international rate stamps as part of its annual holiday issue on Nov. 1... Continue reading →

Ontario philatelist Stuart Reddington took home the Grand Award at Canpex for his eight-frame exhibit on Canada’s Small Queen stamps, the country’s longest-running series, which spanned more than 25 years in the late 1800s. The exhibit, entitled “Canada Small Queens, 1870-1897,” earned 97 points to top the field of 30 competitive exhibits at the Oct.... Continue reading →

A highly touted collection of colonial Nova Scotian stamps and postal history will cross the block in New Brunswick this fall. Eastern Auctions will offer the 135-lot Yuichi Tada Collection, centring on the former British colony’s 1851-67 Pence and Cents issues, on Nov. 17. It features proofs, stamps, multiples and postal history spanning the colonial... Continue reading →

Since its 2004 launch, the free image data processing program Gwyddion has drawn the attention of philatelists for its powerful ability to uncover some of a stamp’s hidden elements. Czech researchers David Nečas and Petr Klapetek developed the program – free to download on gwyddion.net – which can transform engraved and embossed stamps into three-dimensional images. It... Continue reading →

She was only six when Newfoundland issued the world’s first stamp featuring a princess who, until her death Sept. 8, was the British Commonwealth’s longest-reigning monarch. Born April 21, 1926 in an affluent west London area family home, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was the Duke and Duchess of York’s first of two children. “As the... Continue reading →

Classic Canadian stamps, proofs and varieties plus a U.S. rarity with a compound perforation error are expected to lead the next Maresch auction. The 740-lot general sale will cross the block on Oct. 12 during a single session, which kicks off at 10 a.m. (ET). With a wide range of material from more than 60... Continue reading →

Digital technology’s impact on modern philately has been widely felt across the hobby over the past two decades as more collectors begin to understand the potential benefits of computer-based tools and resources. Instead of serving as a death knell, technologies such as smartphones and social media “are the platform for the next generation of philatelists,” according... Continue reading →

Renowned Canadian philatelist Ron Brigham, the man who assembled what Maclean’s called the “greatest collection of Canadian stamps ever,” has died at age 78 following a prolonged illness. A resident of Mississauga, Ont., where he led his fastener company Sure-Grip for four decades, Brigham died on Aug. 4. He began collecting stamps at age nine... Continue reading →

Canada Post has announced its plans to scrap Picture Postage later this summer, giving collectors and other customers six weeks to submit designs before the program ends after 22 years. Since 2000, Picture Postage has allowed collectors and non-collectors alike to create personalized stamps and postcards with custom images for use on mail in Canada.... Continue reading →