Ottawa Philatelic Society First Day Covers

William John Beatty (b. 1860) created the distinctive Ottawa Philatelic Society rubber stamp cachet using materials he had access to during his tenure at the Ottawa post office. The eponymous maple leaf cachet adorns first day covers prepared by the OPS between 1934 and 1961.

The OPS was found in 1891 by John Reginald Hooper (1859–1944). From 1892 it was Beatty’s role as society secretary to advise members of meetings. This led to the development of a rubber stamp which was applied to notices and later adapted for first day cover usage.

From 1934 OPS members received first day covers with the maple leaf cachet signed and dated by the society secretary. Trumpeted as a bonus for members only, the membership fee covered postage and stationery costs for most releases. The covers were never sold and were only sent to society members meaning the possible number remaining in existence, particularly from the early years, is extremely low.

OPS covers are not recorded for all issues. High value denominations in particular are absent as these would have quickly depleted reserves from membership fees. However, it’s likely there are more gems waiting to be discovered as the full extent of the society's activities are lost due to a flooded basement.

The cachet was reproduced in various colours over the years, but this was simply due to the ink pad made available to the secretary at the time rather than any defined strategy. The practice of sending these special rubber stamped first day covers stopped in 1962 with the death of the incumbent secretary, Colin Hahnemann Bayley.

Arthur May duly took over as OPS secretary. This resulted in the creation and use of a printed cachet featuring Parliament Hill and bearing the title Bytown, Ottawa’s name prior to being incorporated. The cachet appeared in various guises until 1968 when the sending of first day covers ceased. Later covers with the cachet exist, but these are not from bulk organised mailings and were prepared ad-hoc from remaining stock.

OPS first day covers exist from 1934 to 1968 – one of the longest runs of any philatelic society. The contemporary society secretaries whose signature appear on OPS covers are R A Ince (1934-35), E A Atwell (1937-39), and C H Bayley (1942-61). You might even find another society member's signature when occasion demanded. Enjoy the hunt.

Explore Ottawa Philatelic Society Covers

 

• The Jacques Cartier issue of 1 July 1934 is the earliest recorded OPS first day cover to feature William Beatty's maple leaf cachet. Signed in this case by then secretary R A Ince

 • The colour of the OPS cachet sometimes differs from issue to issue. In rare instances the cachet exists in more than one colour on a single issue. The colours used were simply down to the availability of ink pads at the time rather than anything orchestrated

• Unusual envelope formats exist, like this E A Atwell-signed OPS first day cover featuring a 3c Coronation single and various KGVI definitives, but they are scarce

• An example of a C H Bayley-signed OPS first day cover. By this stage the envelope format and cachet ink colour were consistent from issue to issue