Sunday, February 3, 2013

Mourning Covers

Starting February 4, 2013, the Government of Canada will stop distributing pennies. I picked up a notice at my postal outlet announcing the phasing out of the penny and the rounding rules that merchants may be applying when pennies are no longer given out in change owed. The notice, printed in black, reminded me of mourning covers and has inspired this post.

Here is the Notice announcing the "death" of the penny:




Mourning Covers and Stationary

Dating back to the 19th century in Canada, mourning covers contained the announcement of  a person's death and information about funeral arrangements, or were used to send sympathy thank you cards. Mourning covers and stationery are easily identified by their black borders. Commonly used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mourning covers are rarely seen after the 1950s.

In this posting, mourning covers from Canada, Great Britain, and the Netherlands are shown.


Canadian Mourning Covers


Welland to Farmington, Michigan, May 2, 1860


 Windsor N.S. to Lee, Kent, England, July 16, 1868


Halifax to Guysboro, July 4, 1889


Elora to York, September 4, 1874


Queen Victoria Mourning Covers


Toronto to India, March 1, 1901


Halifax to San Franciso, January 20, 1901


Hamilton local letter, February 27, 1906


Montreal, local letter December 29, 1908


Mourning Cover with Death Notice


 Toronto-St. Mary's-London R.P.O. to Cayuga, October 19, 1908

 

 



 Toronto to Tillsonburg, May 16, 1930


 
 London to Hamilton, November 2, 1932

 
Governor-General of Canada (Assistant-Secretary)
Quebec to Prince Albert, August 1, 1936



Sympathy Thank You  Card


Stratford to Vittoria, May 7, 1941
 



 Ottawa to Toronto, November 2, 1944




Toronto, local letter, February 5, 1952



Great Britain


 Southampton to Breaking Ridge, New Jersey, October 9, 1941


Death of King George VI : Sympathy Thank You Letters


From Queen Mary

Queen Mary was the mother of the late King George VI.

 Marlborough House, London to Tasmania, February 21, 1952





 From Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was the widow of King George VI.


Buckingham Palace, March 15, 1952




Netherlands


Leerdam, December 17, 1939

The announcement folded into an envelope


Leerdbroek, September 30, 1943





Eindhoven,  February 19, 1941