CANADA PRECANCEL PROVOST

ADRIAN ELLIS – THE MACDONALD-ELLIS COLLECTION

 

This is a block of twelve of the one cent admiral issue of Canada in never hinged condition with a Provost Alberta Canada roller cancel.  This is most unusual until you learn that this block is from a lone sheet of 100 that were roller cancelled to be used as provisional precancels by a business in the town of Provost with the understanding that regular precancels would follow.  However the post office decided that not enough demand was there to warrant regular precancel production, leaving the 1 sheet of 100 provisional precancels the lone survivors.  This block is probably the largest multiple and possibly the only multiple remaining of this venture.  The block came out of a major precancel collection put together in Edmonton AB which is the major city nearest to Provost.  Although there is no written documentation for this block, knowing the collection and the man who put the collection together I believe what is said is accurate.  The block is with full unmarked never hinged gum which does add validity to the report of this as a provisional precancel.  A very rare and probably unique piece which could be described as “semi-official”.