Toronto Litho Christmas Greetings

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This Canadian Cities Series card with one of the Toronto designs shows the text “Wishing You A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A happy new year.” on a ribbon along with sprigs of holly. This card is not postally used, although bearing a 1¢ Jubilee stamp, so the date is unknown.

Toronto Litho Quebec with "Private Post Card"

An example has been added of the Quebec City design from the Canadian Cities Series Type I issue illustrating the “Private Post Card” text at the top of the card.

Toronto Litho Montreal early use

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A new example of the Montreal Victoria Bridge design has been added. This is one of the earlier uses of this series, postally used from Toronto to New York on June 28, 1898. An interesting aspect of this card is that it bears the text “PRIVATE POST CARD” in a purple ink stamp on the face of the card. I’ve often wondered the sequence that Toronto Litho issued the version of the card with the same text printed on the card. As a conjecture, this could be an example of the second design variation, the first being issued without the text, the second being issued with a rubber stamp of the text, and the third being with the printed text. As the printed text version is scarce, it could be that cards without the text soon became acceptable use through the postal service, and the text was dropped.