Canada 1927 - 400th Anniversary of Confederation.

On 29 June 1927 Canada issued a stunning set of engraved stamps to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Canadian Confederacy. There are eight stamps in the set, which equates to far too many stamps to provide a detailed description of each. So in this blog, I'll introduce the set and provide the engravers - where known - and in later blogs I'll study each stamp individually. I'd like to thank Adrian of Stamp Engravers for engraver info on this series.

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The 1c orange depicts Sir John A MacDonald. The vignette of this stamp was engraved by Edwin H Gunn.

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The 2c green depicts the Fathers of Confederation. The vignette of this stamp was engraved by Edwin H Gunn.

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The 3c brown carmine depicts the Parliament Building in Ottawa. The vignette of this stamp was engraved by Harold Osborn.

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The 5c violet depicts Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The vignette of this stamp was engraved by Edwin H Gunn.

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The 12c dark blue depicts a Map of Canada. The vignette of this stamp was engraved by Edwin H Gunn.

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The following three stamps were initially going to be printed in July 26 1926 as an historical commemorative issue, but they were withheld and issued as a part of the Confederation set.

The 5c violet depicts Thomas d'Arcy McGee. This stamp was engraved by Elie Timothée Loizeaux.

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The 12c green depicts Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir John A. MacDonald. The portraits of this stamp were engraved by Edwin H Gunn.

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The 20c brown carmine depicts Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine. The portraits of this stamp were engraved by William Fraser Ford.

Until next time...

Stay Engraver Crazy!

Australia 1927- Opening of Parliament House

Australia's first commemorative stamp was released on 9 May 1927 on the occasion of the opening of Parliament House in Canberra (in A.C.T Australian Capital Territory. The A.C.T is Australia's capital, not Sydney). A competition was held for the design and there were over 1,000 entries. The winning design was composed by Mr Ronald A. Harrison, an artist at the Note Printing Branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It depicts a seated female figure representing Australia. She is holding in her right hand a shield bearing the southern cross. In her left hand she is carrying a palm branch, which is extended as a greeting to the new parliament house, the building in the middle ground. This lovely stamp was engraved by J.A.C. Harrison (Waterloo & Sons Ltd).

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 I always find it curious to look at those designs which didn't get chosen. Below are a couple of the unadopted designs for the Australia 1927 Opening of Parliament House commemorative stamp. The chair of the Speaker of the House (House of Representatives)...

This is another unadopted design. It has similarities with the chosen design, but it is in portrait format and it has the head of George V at the top. I don't mind this one...

All things considered I think the best choice was made. The Opening of Parliament House is a very stylish commemorative stamp début for Australia.

Until next time...

Stay Engraver  Crazy!