Editor : James (Jim) Taylor 
2335 Paliswood Road SW, 
Calgary, AB
james-taylor@wave.home.com

President : David Allen 
2159 W 47th Avenue,
Vancouver BC
Canada V6M 2M6
Fax : 1-604-263-3141
dallen@axionet.com

Mr David Salovey 
Founder 
P.O. Box 464
New-York, N.Y. 10014-0464
USA

In March 1854 the French government reorganized its postal system for the colonies.This was the time of expansion and progress with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the acquisition of colonies by the new French regime which had risen from the anarchy of the 1848 revolution . In 1852 the 2nd Republic of Louis Napoleon became an Empire, with the Emperor Napoleon III seeking his place amongst the powerful nations of Europe. Stamps had been introduced into France in 1849 but in the period 1853-1861 France issued its first definitive stamps with the head of Napoleon III and the designation "Empire Francais". Postal decrees were set in place for the colonies and a postal system was introduced in St. Pierre and Miquelon, to replace the unreliable use of passing ships for carrying mail. St. Pierre did not receive its own official postmark until 1858 and it did not have its own postage stamps, it used the stamps of the French Colonies general issues.

One of the pleasures of looking at these stamps is the hope that there will be a St. Pierre and Miquelon cancel or that the use of the "lozenge" cancel with square dots and subsequently with the letters "SPM" , will be found , but these are rarely seen.

In 1954 the reorganization centenary was recognized by the St. Pierre and Miquelon authorities- not by a special stamp issue- but by the issue of an envelope and a

postcard , showing the Post Office at St. Pierre. Illustrated here are those items and also a copy of one of the French Colonies stamps , with the " SPM" lozenge mark. I was fortunate to acquire the postcard and the envelope in an exchange with a schoolteacher at St. Pierre just recently.

Philatelic articles by David Allen