Back of the book (deel 2)

In Part 1, two types of stamps issued for special purposes were discussed: the special stamps for registered mail and for express deliveries. They often receive much less attention than standard postage stamps. Nevertheless, these types of stamps deserve a place in our collection. Now, we turn to airmail stamps and airmail stamps combined with express delivery from Canada. Airmail stamps Canada's first airmail stamp appeared on September 21, 1928, with a value of 5 cents. The stamp, designed and printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company in Ottawa, had a print run of over 7 million copies.   The aircraft pictured is a Fokker F II, our national pride at the time!   The second stamp, again with a value of 5 cents, appeared on December 4, 1930, now designed and printed by the British American Bank Note Company, also in Ottawa. The print run was 400.000 copies, so low because a tariff change took place in 1932. A great deal of the previous issue remained, and 2 million copies were overprinted with 6 cents. The stamp was released on February 22, 1932.   An overprint of the second stamp also appeared. On July 12, 1932, the 5-cent airmail stamp was overprinted with 6 cents and the text OTTAWA CONFERENCE 1932. A print run of 1/2 million copies. A conference was held in Ottawa from July 21 to August 20, 1932, with representatives of British colonies and dominions regarding the Great Depression of the 1930s, which primarily affected North America. On June 1, 1935, the new 6-cent value was finally issued. The stamp was designed by A.E. Foringer, who had also designed the express stamp. The stamp features an image of Daedalus, or as the Greeks say, Daidalos, a figure from Greek mythology.   The color brown for airmail stamps was abandoned and a switch was made to blue, the color of many airmail stamps from other countries. On June 15, 1938, a 6-cent stamp was issued featuring an image of a Fairchild Sekani seaplane and the paddle steamer 'Distributor III', a riverboat sailing on the Mackenzie River from bygone times.   During the Second World War, an airmail stamp was issued with a value of 6 cents featuring an image of a moment at a military airfield. The stamp appeared on July 1, 1942. In 1943, the airmail duty was increased, and therefore the same stamp appeared on April 1, 1943, but now with a value of 7 cents. The print run of both stamps was large. Almost 15 million copies of the 6 cent stamp and almost 98 million copies of the 7 cent stamp!   On September 16, 1946, the peace stamp featuring an image of the Canada Goose was issued. The value was 7 cents and the print run was nearly 72 million copies. The stamp is beautifully detailed.   The stamp, like the express stamp issued on the same date (see Part 1), was overprinted with the letters OHMS and G. This made them both service stamps, issued in an edition of 400.000 copies in 1949 and 1950. Airmail and express together On July 1, 1942, an airmail stamp was issued in combination with the 10-cent express duty. This resulted in a value of 16 cents. The image depicted a Lockheed Super Electra L-14 aircraft of Trans Canadian Airlines.   In connection with the increase in the air duty from 6 cents to 7 cents in 1943, a stamp with a value of 17 cents was issued on April 1, 1943.   The last stamp also had a value of 17 cents and was issued on September 16, 1946. It featured an image of a DC-4 M North Star aircraft flying over the province of Quebec. A reprint of this stamp appeared on December 3, 1946.   A small mistake was made during the design of the stamp. An accent circumflex was applied to the letter E of EXPRES. This should have been an accent guava. The print run of the erroneous stamp was 300.000 copies, and that of the correct stamp was 900.000 copies. Thus, there is still much to discover and learn from stamps, which are often irreverently included as the final pages in most pre-printed albums. To me, they belong among the ordinary postage stamps, and they are usually quite useful thematically as well. Do you agree with this statement? Or, in your opinion, are they rightly relegated to the back of the album?