Graham Beck has created many interesting videos for philatelists on YouTube. His channel is called “Exploring Stamps’ and it has a huge variety of subjects to learn from. This video is 30 minutes long and shows a top stamp dealer evaluating a collection of early UK stamps (penny blacks, blues, reds). On the one hand
Video: Valuing a Stamp Collection Read More »
By Gray Scrimgeour Editor’s Note: This article by Gray Scrimgeour updates an earlier article on correspondence of the Fawcett family. It gives a detailed look at the challenges of sending mail between the Victoria and Britain during the early days of the Colony of Vancouver Island. Several years ago, I purchased on eBay the flimsy
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by Larry Margetish Many modern Canadian stamp collectors have heard of the Opal Manufacturing Company Ltd due to stamp booklets and stamp vending machines. This company started making stamp vending machines for the Post Office Department in 1955 [1]. Opal Manufacturing Company’s headquarters were at 20 Sheffield Street in Toronto, from at least 1964 until
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Sharing Research Information about Stamp Collecting by Peter Newroth During a panel discussion about the “Future of Stamp Collecting” at Victoria Stamp Club meeting, January 16, 2026, I commented on ways collectors may share information. I was asked where printed stamp collecting information and publications could be acquired? Here is my short review with a
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What’s the colour shade of that stamp? Victoria Stamp Club member Jack Penfold has published an “Article of Distinction” in the journal of the American Philatelic Society. It explains the steps he uses to analyze postage stamp colours, one of the trickiest elements of philatelic study. “How many times have you gone to look up
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Bex Morley, a graphic artist from Maple Bay, was selected to create the annual Christmas stamp for Canada Post this year. In an interview with the Victoria Times-Colonist, Morley said she wanted the design to convey a feeling of Christmas nostalgia and innocence. The stamp is a Permanent value denomination for domestic use and is
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by Igor Krasnov “Stamps on stamps” — issues that depict postal related subjects — form one of the most charming and self-aware themes in modern philately. They appeal because they are both miniature history lessons and playful visual puzzles: the stamp becomes its own subject. This was the December 2025 topic for the “Show and
by Igor Krasnov From Gagarin’s smile to launch pads and antennas, Soviet stamps framed the cosmos as a human stage. But where are the stars, comets, and galaxies? This essay looks at what the Soviet view of space left out and why. I started my “space” stamp collection with a very popular theme: Soviet space.
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This article by Gray Scrimgeour and Ian Kimmerley describes mailed items from an extensive correspondence (1937–1942) involving Henry Porter, a trans-Pacific cable repair worker based in Victoria, British Columbia. Most of the correspondence is between Porter while he was travelling and his family in Victoria. There also are some cable-work related covers. Most of Porter’s
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This presentation by Gray Scrimgeour focuses on the postal history of the James Bay area of Victoria, BC. As the earliest place of European settlement and the seat of the government in Vancouver Island, the colonial leaders lived here. Mail to and from many of these people is shown and the area’s history is described.
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