By Jesse Robitaille
Canada’s seven-stamp set marking the 100th anniversary of the Group of Seven’s first exhibition topped the 2021 CSN Stamp Survey as respondents’ favourite issue of 2020.
Released on May 7, 2020, the Group of Seven set earned 31 of 149 votes (20.8 per cent) as the overall favourite Canadian issue from the 2020 stamp program.
The responses came in from across the country this spring, when CSN revived its annual stamp survey for the first time in a decade. The survey was announced in March (“Announcing the 2021 CSN Stamp Survey,” Vol. 45 #23) and then extended until April 18 to increase the response volume.
Five questions focused on last year’s stamp program while another six honed in on collector behaviours, including their stamp-buying habits and club membership status. For the stamp program questions, respondents could either choose a series or write in a specific stamp or design from a series.
CSN held its previous survey in 2011 (“Blue whale swims away with favourite stamp title,” CSN Vol. 36 #14).
FAVOURITE, BEST & WORST
In the “overall favourite” category, the Group of Seven set was closely followed by the three-stamp Maud Lewis set, which was issued last November and earned 30 votes (20.1 per cent).
The two-stamp V-E Day set issued last April 29 took third place in that category with 13 votes (8.7 per cent).
Respondents also chose last year’s “From Far and Wide” set – nine stamps issued on Jan. 13 marking the series’ third release – as the best designed issue of the 2020 stamp program. It earned 30 votes (20.1 per cent), and while the entire From Far and Wide set was chosen 12 times, the Îles de la Madeleine stamp was specifically named by nine respondents – the favourite among that issue. The Pisew Falls Park stamp also earned three votes; the Abraham Lake and Athabasca Sand Dune stamps each earned two votes; and the Nááts’įhch’oh Park and Northern Lights stamps each earned one vote.
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