IAN KIMMERLY STAMPS
WEEKLY FEATURES

Weekly Feature #189

For the week of February 7th - 14th, 2004

BRINGING IN THE BALLOTS

When you first glance at the 3 stamps shown above, it would be natural to wonder what it is that could be so special about them. As so often is the case with postal history it is not the stamps, but rather how they are used.
These were used on a mailing tag and on the blank side of this tag we only see the 3 stamps which are tied by a Little Current roller cancel. The other side tells the story.
This mailing tag paid the postage to mail a ballot box from Little Current to Blind River, Ontario. We presume it was for the 1940 general election because in the lower left corner is the date 8.38 (August 1938) and quantity (30,000) of these tags which were obviously printed 3 years after the 1935 election in anticipation of an election in 1939 or 1940.
Algoma East would become the constituency of future Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson a few years later. I have never seen a "ballot box" listed in tables of postal rates, presumably it was regarded as a parcel and the 60 cent rate paid for the weight of the large tin box used in the 1940s.
Also this demonstrates how much more important the postal service was in rural communities six decades ago.

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