Volume 37#09

August 28 – September 10, 2012

Canada Post has resumed parcel and packet service to Ireland, Italy and Spain, reducing the number of affected European Union destinations to nine. Letter mail continues to be accepted to all EU countries, while parcel and packet service remains temporarily suspended to the remaining nine destinations as the postal operator works to comply with new EU customs requirements. (CCN image)

Royal Mail paints the country gold

Just hours into the Olympic Games, the Royal Mail issued new stamps to celebrate six gold medals Britain had won in London. Won on a Saturday, the stamps were on sale the following Sunday at selected post offices. It is the first time the mother of all posts has issued stamps honouring individual athletes, and only the third time a host nation has issued individual Olympic gold medal stamps. The stamps are offered at more than 500 post office branches, all of which will remain open on Sundays during the Games, the first time Royal Mail branches have been open on any Sunday. Continue reading →

Features

German engineer’s mail finally sees liftoff

Page 11

Regulars

Are you buying or selling?

Page 19

Check out the shows in your area

Page 23

Editorial

Station K closure a sign of the times

On one level is the fact that the Station K building is unique in that the royal cipher ER over the doorway is actually ER VIII, or King Edward VIII. Most of us know him better as the Duke of Windsor, the man who became King of England in the 1930s, and then abdicated to marry the woman he loved, a divorced American commoner. The Brits are pretty tolerant of their royalty, but apparently do have a three-strike rule. Although never actually crowned king, Edward did rule for a short period of time. During that time, Canada Post built Station K, and put his cipher over the door. It is, I am told, the only post office and possibly the only public building in Canada to bear this distinction.

Continue reading →

By Bret Evans