The Stamps of Canada Part 13

_Circular to Postmaster._ NEW ISSUE OF POSTAGE STAMPS, ETC.

The Postmaster-General has made arrangements for a new issue of postage stamps, letter cards, stamped envelopes, post cards, and post bands. These will be supplied to postmasters in the usual way.

Postmasters are, however, instructed not to sell the stamps of any denomination of the new issue until the stamps of the corresponding denomination of the present issue are disposed of. The filling of requisitions by the Postage Stamp Branch will be regulated by the same principle--that is to say, no item of the proposed issue will be sent out until the corresponding item of the present issue has been exhausted.

To conform to the requirements of the International Postal Union the color of the new 1c stamp will be green and that of the 5c stamp a deep blue.

R. M. COULTER, Deputy Postmaster-General.

Post-Office Department, Canada.

OTTAWA, 25th October, 1897.

The Postmaster-General's Report for 1897, issued after the stamps had made their appearance, also refers to the new issue and to add completeness to our history we extract the following:--

Owing to the change of contract for the manufacture and supply of postage stamps, a new series of stamps became necessary at the beginning of the present fiscal year. New stamps ranging in value from the 1/2c to the 10c denomination (inclusive) were printed, and the first supplies thereof sent out to postmasters as the corresponding denominations of the old stamps became exhausted. A considerable quant.i.ty of the higher values of that series (15 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents) remaining over from the late contract, these three stamps continued to be issued, so that the department, previous to the introduction of the same denominations in the new series, might, in accordance with the universal practice, dispose of the old stamps in each case, before issuing any of the new. The design of the new stamps is of a uniform character, and consists of an engraved copy (reduced) of an authorized photograph of Her Majesty taken during the Diamond Jubilee year. This, placed within an oval bearing the usual inscriptions, is enclosed within a rectangular frame, a maple leaf on a lined ground occupying each of the triangular s.p.a.ces between the two frames. To conform to the regulations of the Universal Postal Union, the color of the new 1 cent stamp is green, and that of the 5 cents a deep blue. This necessitated corresponding changes in the colors of the other stamps of the new series; for example, purple instead of green being selected for the 2 cent denomination, and orange instead of slate for the 8 cent.

The first denomination of the new series--the 1/2 cent--was placed on sale on November 9th, 1897. About the end of the same month the 6c made its appearance, and this was quickly followed by the 1c, 2c, 5c and 8c in December. The 3c and 10c were issued early in January, 1898, so that official instructions that the new stamps were not to be issued until the supplies of the old issue were exhausted were fully carried out, though all values were on sale within the s.p.a.ce of about three months.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The design of the new stamps is at once simple and effective. In the central oval is a three-quarter face portrait of Her Majesty, with head to left, which was copied from a photograph taken by W. & D. Downey, of London, at the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Around the oval is a band of solid color containing the words CANADA POSTAGE above and the value in words below, all being in Egyptian capitals. The spandrels are filled with a ground of horizontal lines on which maple leaves rest.

While, as Mr. Howes observes, "much criticism was engendered by the fact that the portrait was too large for its frame, making the design appear cramped," public verdict, as a whole, expressed unqualified approval of the new design.

The stamps, like those of the preceding issues, were printed from line-engraved plates and, with one exception, these plates contained one hundred impressions arranged in ten horizontal rows of ten each. The exception referred to occurred in the 1/2c, the first plate for which contained 200 stamps, arranged in ten rows of twenty stamps each. This is mentioned in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ as follows:--

By some misunderstanding the contractors, the American Bank Note Co., set the sheet up with 200 stamps, and the first five hundred sheets were so printed. The sheets were afterwards cut in two through the imprint, and we have these half sheets with a close imperforated margin on either the left or right edge. Afterwards sheets of 100 stamps were issued, all the stamps perforated on all four sides. Plate number collectors will find the earliest sheets difficult to obtain. Both sheets bear the plate number 1.

The imprint on the sheets followed the plan originated with the Jubilee series, "OTTAWA--No--1," etc., being placed in the centre of the top margin. Each value began with No. 1 and apparently for the 5c, 6c, 8c, and 10c the one plate sufficed. For the 1/2c, as we have already shown, there were two plates, both numbered "1"; while for the 1c there were two plates, for the 2c, three plates, and for the 3c, six plates.

The stamps were printed on stout white wove paper, similar to that used for the Jubilee stamps and at some time or other a slightly thinner and more brittle paper seems to have been used. The paper for the 5c is of a distinctly bluish color--this being the first occasion on which colored paper was used for any of the postage stamps of the Dominion.

The perforation was the regulation gauge of 12, which has been in continuous use since 1858, and, as the _Philatelic Record_ stated when first chronicling the issue, "many of the stamp are badly centered, a characteristic defect of the American Bank Note Company's work." The 5c is known entirely imperforate.

_Reference List._

1897. Engraved and Printed by the American Bank Note Co., Ottawa, on wove paper. Perf. 12.

52. 1/2c black, Scott's No. 66.

53. 1c green, Scott's No. 67.

54. 2c purple, Scott's No. 68.

55. 3c carmine, Scott's No. 69.

56. 5c dark blue on bluish, Scott's No. 70.

57. 6c brown, Scott's No. 71.

58. 8c orange, Scott's No. 72.

59. 10c brown-violet, Scott's No. 73.

CHAPTER XV.--_The "Numeral" Issue of 1898._

The "maple-leaf" issue had not been long in use before complaints were made that owing to the lack of plain numerals it was a difficult matter to distinguish the various denominations. In its issue for April 2nd, 1898, the _Metropolitan Philatelist_ stated another ground for complaint and also referred to a forthcoming change, viz.:--

Much dissatisfaction is expressed by the French speaking inhabitants of the rural parts at the lack of figures of value on the stamps, the denomination in all cases being printed in English which they are unable to understand. It has, therefore, been decided to alter the new stamps by removing the maple leaves from the lower corners and inserting large numerals of value in their place. The s.p.a.ce occupied by the head will also be somewhat enlarged and the value will be placed on a straight band below.

A few months later the redrawn stamps made their appearance, for the _Monthly Journal_ for July 30th, 1898, records the issue of the 1c and 3c denominations as follows:--

The design is certainly improved, the oval being enlarged so that its outer line covers the outer line of the rectangle at each side and at top and bottom. The band being the same width as before, this allows a larger s.p.a.ce for the head, which no longer appears so closely "cribbed, cabined and confined." The inscriptions remain unchanged, but in each of the lower corners is a plain rectangular block, containing a colored numeral.

Mr. Howes states that these two values were issued on June 21st, 1898, and, following its usual custom, the Canadian Post-office did not place the other denominations on sale until the corresponding values of the old series were all used up. Thus, the 1/2c, 2c and 6c did not appear until early in September, the 8c was placed on sale in the first few days of October, the 10c was issued in the early part of November, while the 5c, which was the laggard of the series, was not on sale until July 3rd, 1899.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Although the design was entirely redrawn and the wider oval gave the portrait a less cramped effect, it did not satisfy all the critics--though, so far as this fact is concerned, it is doubtful if any stamp issued anywhere at any time has met with universal approbation!

The stamps were produced by the usual method of steel engraved plates and they were printed in sheets of 100, in ten rows of ten, as had now become the regular custom. The imprint is like that on the sheets of the "maple leaf" issue and, again as with that series, the numbering of the plates started with "1" for each denomination. So little interest seems to have been taken in these marginal varieties that no authoritative record of the several plates employed has been kept. Mr. Howes gives but one plate for the 1/2c, 6c, 8c and 10c values, three for the 5c, four each for the 2c and 3c, and six for the 1c but it seems highly probable there were many more especially for such values as the 1c and 2c which were used in very large quant.i.ties.

In 1901 there were rumours that some of the stamps of this type had been re-engraved, the foundation for the canard being the following paragraph from the WEEKLY:--

Mr. H. A. Chapman has sent me a specimen of a re-engraved 1c Canada numeral, in which the differences from the first issue demand recognition. The re-engraved type is shorter and wider than the one preceding it. I note also that the 2c is said to exist in the same condition.

In reprinting this statement the _Philatelic Record_ observed "Can this be true; or is it only another case of a slight difference caused by the shrinkage after wetting the sheets for printing purposes?"

The _Monthly Journal_ for September. 1901, soon set the matter at rest as shown by the following extract:--

Miss A. L. Swift very kindly informs us that a friend of hers made enquiries at headquarters in Ottawa, and was a.s.sured that no re-engraving whatever has taken place, and that any differences that exist must be due to shrinkage or expansion of the paper during the process of printing. Our correspondent, who is a well-known American writer upon philatelic subjects and a careful philatelist, tells us that the 1/2c, 1c and 2c of the numeral type and several values of the Maple Leaf type, show these variations, and adds that in the case of the 1/2c of both issues one size is found in grey-black only, and the other in deep black only. It is possible that the amount or thickness of the ink employed may have some effect upon the varying shrinkage of the paper.

The same journal refers to the matter again in the following month, viz.:--

In reference to the question of the variations in the size of the stamps of the last two issues of this Colony, a correspondent tells us that he has been studying these stamps, and has come to the conclusion, no doubt correctly, that the variations are due to differences in the quality and thickness of the paper. As in the old case of the Ceylon stamps the longer copies are on thicker paper than the short ones. All stamps that are printed on damp paper, and especially those from plates engraved in _taille-douce_, are liable to vary in this way.

The above seems to be the most reasonable explanation of the differences for the measurements of the so-called long and short stamps are practically constant, which one would naturally expect to find if two sorts of paper, differing slightly in thickness and quality, were used.

_Reference List._

1898-9. Engraved and printed by the American Bank Note Co., Ottawa, on white wove paper. Perf. 12.

60. 1/2c black, Scott's No. 74.

61. 1c green, Scott's No. 75.

62. 2c purple, Scott's No. 76.

63. 3c carmine, Scott's No. 77.

64. 5c dark blue on bluish, Scott's No. 78.

65. 6c brown, Scott's No. 79.

66. 8c orange, Scott's No. 80.

67. 10c brown-violet, Scott's No. 81.