| International Harvester Co. (I3) |
Where was the I3 perforator located?
According to the Canadian Stamps with Perforated Initials handbook, the International Harvester Company of America at London, Ontario received Post Office permission to operate a perforator on 1912/01/08. The handbook states that this refers to the I3 perforator, but goes on to say that matching the I3 perforator to this approval may be inaccurate.
The I3 perfin has a rarety factor of F, which means that there were between 300 and 1,000 copies reported by the 57 members of the BNAPS Perfin Study Group in the early 1980s. Given that it is a fairly common pattern, it might be possible to determine if this perfin really was used in London.
Going through my collection of this pattern looking for town cancels, I found the following pattern of usage:
| Town Cancels on Perfin I3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Swift Current, SK | June 5, 1929 | Sc. 110 |
| Swift Current, SK | -- 1929 | Sc. 154 |
| Swift Current, SK | Oct. 17, 1930 | Sc. 164 |
| Swift Current, SK | Oct. 22, 1930 | Sc. 164 |
| Swift Current, SK | Jan. 6, 1932 | Sc. 167 |
| Swift Current, SK | -- 7, 1932 | Sc. 167 |
| Swift Current, SK | Nov. --, 1932 | Sc. 174 |
| Swift Current, SK | Nov. 30, 1933 | Sc. 204 |
| Swift Current, SK | Jan. 10, 1936 | Sc. 195 |
| Swift Current, SK | -- 8, 1937 | Sc. 237 |
| Regina, SK | Sept. 22, 1937 | Sc. 223 |
| Toronto, ON | Nov. 1, 1938 | Sc. 232 |
| Toronto Carleton St., ON | Sept. 25, 1938 | Sc. 233 |
| Toronto Carleton St., ON | Sept. 25, 1938 | Sc. 235 |
| Toronto Carleton St., ON | May 27, 1939 | Sc. 223 |
| Toronto, ON | May 2x, 1939 | Sc. 235 |
| Toronto, ON | -- 1940 | Sc. 241 |
| --, ON | -- 1954 | Sc. 337 |
| Newmarket, ON | -- (1955) | Sc. 351 |
| Newmarket, ON | -- (1962) | Sc. 403 |
The distribution of cancellations suggests that the perforator was used in Swift Current, SK from about 1929 until 1937, then was moved to Toronto around 1938. While it is tempting to think that the perforator might then have been moved to Newmarket (which is just north of Toronto) around 1955, more examples of town cancels from the 50s and 60s are required.