1975: Winnipeg Manitoba - Pembina North Dakota 1970s Stamp Panes - Privately Published Cinderella Issue by Philatelist Kasimir Bileski
Here is a set of 5 full panes (sometimes called sheets) of privately issued stamps from Kasimir Bileski during the Canadian Postal strikes of the 1970s.
Kasimir Bileski was a prominent stamp collector and dealer and issued these himself to continue to facilitate trade and correspondence between the United States and Canada during the Canadian Postal strikes—Pembina, North Dakota being the nearest / northern-most border crossing to Winnipeg. There’s an excellent write-up of his life and work at the Saskatoon Stamp Centre.
A stamp of "Pembina - Winnipeg" meant that an envelope addressed to his postal box at Pembina would be picked up and forwarded to Winnipeg, and vice versa. So each set of stamps was a one-way jump via courier service, a sort of ticket across the border.
Technically these would be "cinderella" stamps in the sense that they were not issued by an official government body for typical post, but there are examples of cancelled Winnipeg - Pembina stamps and envelopes. They did have some utility.
Some of the stamps bear latin phrases, such as "Alia Tentanda Via Est" ("We must find another way"), "Spero Meliora Per Pembina" ("I hope it's better through Pembina").
All panes are 15 stamps, 3 x 15. Black plus one accent color. The panes include:
- Pembina - Winnipeg 1975. Black and soft green.
- Winnipeg - Pembina 1975. Black and soft green.
- Pembina - Winnipeg 1976. Black and green.
- Winnipeg - Pembina 1976. Black and green.
- Pembina - Winnipeg 1978. Black and orange.