From what I gather the bilingual label is a recent development, 1976 to 1996 (?) the others all being in English only, I believe. Apparently this one, with the misspelled French, was their first crack at it in 1976. It was evidently quickly corrected with the spelling changed from "marqe" to "marque" starting in 1977, which is apparently the correct spelling in French. Some later bilingual versions changed the word from "marque" to "point" (pointe?) which was the point they were trying to make all along, or so it would seem, on what they call the Big Bilingual B label.... Hey! I saw it on the internet so it's gotta be true!
https://www.pointblankets.com/pages/pb007.htm Errors and Additions:
The Blanket: An Illustrated History of the Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket:
Page 66: Second caption should be revised as follows: “(Top) In 1929, Hudson’s Bay Company used the Gold Variant of the Seal A4 label on the first runs of their newly introduced line of pastel coloured point blankets. The same label, but using the more common red embroidery, was used during the late1920s on their standard line of point blankets.”
Page 67: First caption should be revised as follows: “(Top) From the early 1940s to the1960s, Hbc issued blankets bearing the 100% Wool Labels. The 100% Wool Type 1 label shown here is probably the most common label found on older blankets, indicating the very high volume of sales of point blankets during the early 1950s. It appears in two sizes: the larger ones from the early 40s and the smaller ones from the late 40s through 1955.”
The Collector’s Guide to Point Blankets:
Page 9: Horatio W Collier and Sons is listed as one of the Yorkshire suppliers. Mr Derek Collier provides a correction noting that they were actually located on Corn Street in Witney.
Page 64: The Stacked label appears to have actually been introduced earlier than noted in the book. The date should be amended to read c.1934 -1939.
Pages 72/73: An earlier Big Bilingual label has been identified that precedes the Big Bilingual A illustrated on Page 73. I have temporarily named it “Big Bilingual First Issue”. It appears to have been used for only one run of blankets and is thus very rare. Apparently there were several errors in the French text [see those flagged with “(sic)”] which were corrected in subsequently issued labels. Image and caption to right may be printed and inserted in your copy of the book between pages 72 and 73.
Page 73: The dates on the Big Bilingual A label should be corrected to read c.1977 to 1996. Although this contradicts Mr. Finlay's previous information, as noted in the footnote on page 73, I have found too many earlier examples to continue to rely on the previously published dating.
BIG BILINGUAL FIRST ISSUE:
4 1/2" X 2 7/8" (117 X 75mm) c.1976
Yellowish gold on white satin reading: Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket -- Couverture à marqes (sic) de la Compagnie la Baie d’Hudson -- Logo -- The Seal of Quality -- Le sceau de qualite (sic) -- 100% WOOL / LAINE -- Made in England. Fait (sic) en Angleterre -- CA 00234. This label appears to have been used for only one run of blankets. Apparently the misspelling of the French word “marques” as used on the Big Bilingual A label was what called for this label’s replacement. Subsequently, “marques” was replaced with the word “points” on the Big Bilingual B label. The other typos were caught in later labels, as well. Note the straight stitching used to affix this label. This method of stitching was replaced by zigzag stitching sometime during the period of use of the Big Bilingual A labels.