Cancel hounds rejoice! You have a wonderful year ahead of you. I’ll be exploring new cancels throughout the year with this new series – Cancel Hounds Alert. Oh dear, not a very original title, but I’m tired. If you have a better idea, drop it in the comments. The last two articles I wrote, talked about the beauty of post marks. You can read them here Japan’s 2021 stamp program includes mind-blowing cancels and here Poland 2021 stamp program.
What is a cancel hound? They are a special breed of philately collectors. They seek out interesting postmarks to add to their collections, often taking years to find that one special cancel. There’s something intriguing about exploring how different countries create postal art. Each country has a unique style and mood, and some designers become quickly recognisable. I’ve long admired the details and beauty held in the drops of ink. I have a small collection, mostly fancy cancels from the 1800s and slogan cancels. Lately my research has led me to a renewed appreciation of cancels. The hound within me demanded a series devoted to postmarks from around the world. I’ll eventually add an item to the navigation menu so you can find cancel articles quickly.
I’m going to kick off this series with an out of this world selection from earlier releases. How about a quick dive into Star Trek?
Star Trek and the Royal Mail
Star Trek stamps have been the featured subject by many countries. It’s a popular topic and guaranteed to sell. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Royal Mail issued a celebration series for Star Trek given how many actors from the UK have appeared in both the tv series and movies. I especially loved Simon Pegg’s appearance, but then again, I have a soft spot for him. I am a bit disappointed his role didn’t include battling space zombies. Last year Royal Mail put out a Star Trek collection that included the usual selection of FDC, presentation packs, stamps etc. If there’s one thing Royal Mail is good at, it’s issuing a lot of collectables per commemorative stamp. I found 44 items in their e-shop. You could go broke buying all their offerings.
A time-limited collectible souvenir celebrating more than 50 years of Star Trek on TV and in the cinema. Royal Mail
Royal Mail tapped London based design firm Interbang to create this vibrant set. They were behind the 2017 Royal Mail Star Wars series as well. Two cancels were offered with the First Day Covers (FDC). The first depicts the Enterprise from the top down from Beambridge, Craven Arms, UK.
Craven Arms Postmark showing Enterprise
Craven Arms, population of about 2,200, lies “between Shrewsbury and Ludlow, close to the town of Church Stretton” (shropshire.gov.uk). If that doesn’t ring any bells, try this:
There it is! Just to the left of Birmingham.
Beamsbridge is a small hamlet in the area. Seems a bit of an unlikely spot for a sci-fi stamp. I’ll let the Royal Mail explain:
Beambridge, Craven Arms – a playful nod to the transporter teleportation machine used to ‘beam up’ crew members. Star Trek First Day Cover with Beambridge, Craven Arms Postmark | Royal Mail
The second cancel shows the instantly recognizable delta insignia.
Tallents House Postmark
Of the two, I prefer this Tallents postmark. Tallents House pops up with every FDC offerings and I was curious where and what Tallent House is. It’s the British Philatelic Bureau’s address in Edinburgh. Which is your favourite?
Royal Mail makes it easy to find quality images of all their cancels, as well as basic info on their creation, unlike Canada. We are a frustrating country at times. More on that later. As of the publish date for this article, the FDCs are still available for ordering. If you want to be selective in your purchases, the two FDCs would be a terrific addition to either a Star Trek or a stamp collection.
Beamsbridge cancel
Onto Canada’s Star Trek postmarks – set one
Canada Post has issued two sets of Star Trek related stamps and post cancels. The 2016 issues focused on the original tv series. Three actors hailed from Canada – Captain Kirk, aka William Shatner, and chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, also known as James Doohan. Scottie was my favourite character and Doohan was one of a kind. And the greatest Klingon villain of all times Kor. Canadian John Colicos embodied cunning and danger in this role. Confession time: I wanted Kor to win.
Canada Post went all-out with the postmarks. I mentioned being frustrated with Canada Post. They issue some wonderful cancels, but they rarely highlight them or even mention them. It’s like the designers’ efforts are unappreciated. I love this set of cancels. You get Spock’s Vulcan greeting, USS Enterprise, a communicator, a medical tricorder, and best of all? A Klingon battle cruiser.
Click on the image to see a larger version so you can examine details.
 Location: Vulcan AB |
 Cancellation Location: Montréal QC |
 Vancouver BC |
 Postmark from Vulcan AB |
 Location: Toronto ON |
Cancel availability
None of the cancels are available any longer and I couldn’t find any decent solo images of them. The series was designed by Signals Design Group, in Vancouver, BC. Kosta Tsetsekas, John Belisle, Mike Savage, Adrian Horvath were the designers responsible for the set, but even their website portfolio neglects to show the cancels. The only time they are mentioned was in relation to a framed stamp pane with a “gold-ink postmark of the Enterprise’s trusty shuttlecraft”. Sounds attractive. But good luck finding an image. ARG! Canada Post, you can do so much better.
While you can no longer get the above cancels, you can get a kick ass Spock cancel. All you need is a Self-Address Stamped Envelope (SASE).
Send your self-address, stamped envelope to:
Vulcan PO
304 2 Ave. S,
Vulcan AB, T0L 2B0
Round up a Spock stamp, and put it on the cover and send it off. If you aren’t in Canada, make sure you have enough stamps to take care of international costs. This isn’t the same as the one on the Spock FDC, it’s so much better. If you can’t find any Star Trek stamps, you can put any stamp on the cover. As long as mailing costs are taken care, they’ll do.
Canadian postmarks for cancel hounds – set two
Canada Post issued another series the following year that celebrated the new Star Trek series, both tv and movies. Signals Design group came back with another winning set of stamps, covers and cancels. Kosta Tsetsekas and Adrian Horvath were behind this release. Unfortunately, after much searching, I couldn’t find standalone versions of the cancels for this series either. There isn’t even a mention of the 2017 set on Signals’ website. Did I say frustrating? And, although the FDCs are striking, they hide the wonderful postmarks so much so, they are nearly invisible.
 Vulcan AB |
 Montréal QC |
 Local: Vulcan AB |
 Another Vulcan AB cancel |
 And Vulcan AB again |
 All these Vulcan AB titles is screwing with my readability score |
 Vulcan AB |
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