1939 royal visit to Canada and Newfoundland – commemorative stamps

Canada 1939 Royal Visit SG.373-SG.374

The 1939 royal tour of Canada was a cross-Canada royal tour by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, lasting from May 17 to June 15, 1939, including a visit to the United States on June 7–10.  It was the first visit of a reigning monarch to Canada, and also the first time a British monarch had set foot in the United States. The royal couple visited every Canadian province as well as the (then) Dominion of Newfoundland.  The tour was an enormous event and a great success, attracting huge crowds at each new city.

The royals arrived in Quebec city, and travelled west by rail through the country, visiting most of the major cities and finally arriving in Vancouver. Then they travelled through the United States, along with Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The tour ended with a visit to the Maritimes and Newfoundland, departing from Halifax.

In 1985, during a tour of Canada, Queen Elizabeth, by then the Queen Mother, stated in a speech: “It is now some 46 years since I first came to this country with the King, in those anxious days shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. I shall always look back upon that visit with feelings of affection and happiness. I think I lost my heart to Canada and Canadians, and my feelings have not changed with the passage of time.

 

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth unveiled the War Memorial in Ottawa.

The royal visit of King George VI and Queen Mary was marked by two commemorative stamp issues, one by Canada and one by Newfoundland (at the time a Crown Dominion), and I have recently acquired both sets.

Newfoundland 1939 Royal Visit SG.272

My favourite is the Canadian set portraying both monarchs and the two princesses, as well as the National War Memorial, although the Newfoundland issue is also quite charming.  Both are very affordable but lovely additions to my collection.

 

The collection to date

Probably for my own purposes as much anything I thought I’d show the stamps I’ve acquired since I started collecting again just over a month ago.  All are UMM, and the higher value sets are purchased from Stanley Gibbons – good provenance but expensive.  The others are from Delcampe or eBay:

Canada, SG.394a-396a

Channel Islands, SG.C1 & C2

Great Britain GB.461

Great Britain SG.479-484

Great Britain SG.499-502

Hong Kong SG.169 & SG.170

India SG.282

Mauritius SG.255 & SG.256

New Zealand SG603-609

New Zealand SG.607

New Zealand SG.662 & SG.700

St Vincent SG.160 & SG.161

Barbados SG.271-282

BOIC SG.E1-12

BOIC SG.E26-32

GB SG.493 & SG.494

My favourite set so far are the Barbados definitives, the craftsmanship in the engraving is outstanding and the tones are beautiful.  It’s also interesting to see that already, with this few stamps, the extent of the British Empire was just astonishing.

First items in my collection

I’m pleased to say my Delcampe and eBay purchases have all arrived safely, and as described. They are:

Coronation (13 May 1937)
GB.461

Canada 1942 KGVI set of 3 each in booklet panes of 3, 2 in each unmounted, (1 September 1943) SG 394a-6a

NEW ZEALAND 1950 SG.662 & 700 OVERPRINTs (1 May 1944 & 28 July 1950)

All are unmounted mint, fine condition or better. I am determined to collect stamps in fine condition or better only. Of course, occasionally I may purchase a set with one or two stamps that aren’t of top quality, but I will make it a priority to replace those stamps at the earliest opportunity.

Top of my wants list now is a full set of 1937 definitives, although I suspect I’ll purchase those from a reputable dealer rather than online.

I’ve started work on the page design of the album leaves I’ll hopefully be mounting my collection on, and will post my progress shortly.

As an aside, I was rather disappointed by my ‘customer experience’ during a recent visit to Stanley Gibbons and Vera Trinder in London.

In Gibbons, I was midway through a transaction when another customer entered the store and started berating, very loudly, a poor female customer assistant about the fact a publication he’d been informed by email was available actually wasn’t. In fact, it had been withdrawn after a day or so of going on sale as it had a significant error in it. The said customer left shop still booming his discontent. This incident was then followed up by the front of house manager openly (and in a very sarcastic manner) criticising the way in which the assistant serving me was putting my transaction through the till.

Leaving Gibbons I made my way to Trinders. Here I was helped by a lovely elderly gentleman with an enquiry about Lighthouse products. At one point he had to go into the back office to fetch a couple of examples, where I could clearly hear an unseen manager speaking to him very rudely about his having a problem finding what he was looking for.

These incidents were not only embarrassing to be a part of, they were perfect examples of treating what are probably very poorly paid staff with a dismissive and pompous attitude that in most walks of life has fortunately disappeared. Courtesy really does cost nothing, and more than that it makes the customers experience so much more pleasant – witness the success currently being enjoyed by the likes of the John Lewis chain of stores in the UK. Point made.