The Stamps of Canada Part 4

To facilitate the prepayment of letters pa.s.sing from Canada to England by the Canadian steamers, a new stamp bearing value of 6 pence sterling, or 7-1/2 pence currency, being the Canadian Packet rate, has been secured and put in circulation.

A new stamp has also been introduced of the value of one halfpenny to serve as the medium for prepaying transient Newspapers.

Moreover, the Department has been led, by the increasing use of Postage Stamps, to take measures for obtaining the Canadian Postage Stamps in sheets perforated in the dividing lines, in the manner adopted in England, to facilitate the separation of a single stamp from the others on a sheet when required for use.

It will thus be seen that the 7-1/2d value, which was recommended three years earlier (at the time the 10d was issued), materialised at last, though there appears to be no official record bearing on the date the new value was placed on sale to the public. The volume dealing with the postage stamps of British North America, published by the Royal Philatelic Society some twenty years ago, gives the date of issue as June 2nd, 1857, though no authority for this statement is given.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The design was adapted from that of the discarded 12d of 1851, the same portrait of Queen Victoria adorning the central oval. The inscribed band around this contains the words CANADA PACKET POSTAGE at the top, and SIX PENCE STERLING at the bottom, the two inscriptions occupying so much s.p.a.ce that there was no room for dividing ornaments of any kind. In the upper and lower left hand corners is "6d stg." and in the right hand corners "7-1/2d cy." is shown. A word of explanation regarding the use of the word PACKET in the inscription is necessary. This does not refer to any parcel post (indeed, there was no parcel post at that period) as has sometimes been erroneously a.s.serted, but refers to the fast mail steamers of the day which were then known as "packets". This denomination, as shown by the extract from the Postmaster-General's report printed above, was intended for use on single letters sent to England via the Canadian packets.

This 7-1/2d stamp was, according to Mr. Howes, printed in sheets of 120 arranged in ten horizontal rows of twelve each, each sheet showing the imprint of the manufacturers eight times on the margins as in the case of the values issued previous to 1857. Only one consignment, consisting of 834 sheets (100,800 stamps) was received, and as 17,670 of these were still on hand when the decimal currency was introduced in 1859, a simple calculation will show that the total quant.i.ty issued was 82,410 stamps.

Although there had been a real need for a halfpenny value since the first adhesives made their appearance in Canada--as shown by several rates it was impossible to prepay in stamps without them--it was not until 1857 that a stamp of this denomination was placed in use. The following circular announced their impending issue:--

POSTAGE ON NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

TORONTO. _18th July, 1857._

Under the Post Office Law of last Session taking effect from 1st August, 1857, Newspapers printed and published in Canada, and mailed direct from Office of Publication, will pa.s.s free of Canadian Postage.

Periodicals so printed, published, and mailed when specially devoted to Religious and to General Education, to Agriculture, or Temperance, or to any branch of Science, will pa.s.s free from any one Post-Office to another within the Province.

Transient and re-mailed Papers and Periodicals will pa.s.s by Post if prepaid by Postage stamp--one halfpenny if not exceeding 3 oz. in weight, and 2d if over 3 oz.

Postage Stamps of the value of one halfpenny each will be sold to the public at all the princ.i.p.al Post Offices (including all Money Order Offices), with a discount of 5 per cent. upon purchases of not less than twenty stamps and will be available in prepayment of Newspapers and Periodicals, and of Drop and Town Letters.

R. SPENCE, Postmaster-General.

The Royal Philatelic Society's book gives the date of the above notice--July 18th, 1857--as the date of issue of the new stamp but, as Mr. Howes observes "it is more likely that the stamp was issued on 1st August, the day the new rates took effect."

Although this stamp is generally conceded to be the last of the "pence"

values to be issued, until more definite information regarding the date of issue of the 7-1/2d can be procured, this supposition can rest on no more substantial basis than that of mere conjecture.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The design is quite unlike that of any of the other values expressed in pence and consists of the conventional profile portrait of the Queen shown on so many of the stamps of the British Empire, within an oval band inscribed CANADA POSTAGE, at the top, and ONE HALF PENNY, at the bottom. There are no numerals or inscriptions in the corners but merely a plain pattern of diagonally crossed lines. Mr. Howes states "the stamp was printed in sheets of 100, ten rows of ten, with the right marginal imprints as described for the series of 1851."

From the Postmaster-General's report we gather that 1,341,600 halfpenny stamps were received prior to October 1st, 1857, though whether these were all in one consignment or not is not quite clear. At any rate judging from the statement in the same report that "the Department has been led to take measures for obtaining ... sheets perforated" it would appear that the above quant.i.ty comprised all the imperforate stamps of this denomination. On the other hand the total number of halfpenny stamps issued was 3,389,960 and catalogue quotations for the imperforate and the perforated varieties hardly bear out the supposition that only the first lot were issued without perforation.

While the 10d value is found on several sorts of paper no such extreme variation is provided as in the case of the stamps of 1851. The 7-1/2d and 1/2d values, printed at a later date, provide still fewer varieties, which would seem to indicate that as time progressed the manufacturers exercised a nicer discrimination in their choice of paper. Most of the stamps seem to have been printed on a hard wove paper, varying a little in thickness; the 10d is found on a very thin paper; and the 1/2d is recorded on ribbed paper, though whether this is a true "ribbed" variety or merely the result of some peculiarity in printing is open to discussion. As the ribbed lines are anything but distinct, though the paper showing this peculiarity is a little softer than that generally used, it is more than likely that the ribbing was purely accidental.

Owing to the differing qualities of paper used the same idiosyncrasies of measurement in the size of the designs may be noted, especially in the case of the 10d as was referred to in a previous chapter. But as all variations of this character in stamps printed from line-engraved plates were long ago conclusively proved to be due to nothing more exciting than paper shrinkage it is hardly worth while wearying our readers with a resurrection of all that has been written on the subject leading up to the proof. While examples showing the extremes of size are of interest in a specialised collection little can be said in favor of their philatelic value.

_Reference List._

1855-57. Engraved and printed by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York, on wove paper. Imperforate.

4. 1/2d pink, Scott's No. 8.

5. 7-1/2d green, Scott's No. 9.

6. 10d blue, Scott's No. 7.

CHAPTER V.--_The Perforated Pence Stamps._

In the Report of the Postmaster-General for September 30th, 1857, to which we have already made reference, we read:--

Moreover, the Department has been led, by the increasing use of Postage Stamps, to take measures for obtaining the Canadian Postage Stamps in sheets perforated in the dividing lines, in the manner adopted in England, to facilitate the separation of a single stamp from the others on a sheet when required for use.

From the above statement, one would naturally infer that such a useful innovation would be adopted at once, especially so when it is considered that the utility and convenience of perforation had already been amply tested and had proved eminently satisfactory in England. Unfortunately, no further mention of perforation is made in the Reports of succeeding years, and this absence of direct official evidence combined with the existence of certain facts has given rise to much theorising as to the actual date of issue of the perforated varieties, and as to whether the perforation was applied by the manufacturers of the stamps, by the Canadian Government, or by private parties in Canada.

Mr. Donald A. King in his article in the _Monthly Journal_ says:--

It is an open question whether these stamps were delivered to the Canadian Post Office Department in a perforated condition or not.

The manufacturers are wholly unable to throw any light on the subject; and while there is much to be said in favor of their having perforated the stamps, there are points against it almost as strong.

In favor of it there is the fact that, at the date that these stamps were issued, it was more than probable that a firm like the manufacturers would have perforating machines. The normal gauge of the perforated set is 12, that being the only size ever used by the manufacturers, or their successors, the American Bank Note Company; indeed, they call 12 their standard and only gauge.

On the other hand, we find that there are perforated stamps of the first series issued, viz., the 6d on _laid_ paper; also, that there exist two different varieties of perforation that were never used by the makers, viz., one gauging 14, and another that is described in the _American Journal of Philately_ for January, 1891, as follows:--

"CANADA.--In a large lot of pence issues, purchased by us lately, we have found two copies of the 3d. on greyish wove paper, perforated 13, with oblique parallel cuts. This seems to confirm the theory that the pence issues of Canada were not perforated by the manufacturers, but either by the Canadian Government, or by some persons authorized by them, who most likely experimented with different perforating machines, finally selecting the one perforating 12."

Considering these facts, it may be that the stamps were sent to Canada in an imperforate condition, and that the Post Office Department had them perforated there, either buying a perforating machine, or entrusting them to some manufacturers of stationery.

Perforations gauging 13 and 14 may have been experimental, as specimens of these varieties are rare; perforation 12 being adopted as giving the best results, the other sizes not being at all clearly cut, as the 12 generally is. All the stock of 1/2d, 3d and 6d on hand would, in this case, have been perforated, which might account for the copy of the 6d on laid paper that is known in this condition. There always remains the query why the 7-1/2d and 10d were not treated in the same manner, and to this no answer can be given. Probably the safest theory to advance, and the one that I think is correct, is that the 12 gauge was the official one used by the manufacturers, and that the 13 and 14 were the result of private enterprise by people using large quant.i.ties of stamps, and they may possibly antedate the regularly perforated issue. This point can only be settled by copies being found on the original covers.

In commenting on the above it will save undue confusion if we state that the copy of the perforated 6d on laid paper to which Mr. King refers was proved to be a forgery as shown by the following extract from the _American Journal of Philately_ for 1891:--

There is no longer any mystery in regard to the origin of that _great rarity!_ the perforated 6 pence on laid paper, these stamps having been perforated for four or five years in the shop of Messrs. Benjamin, Sarpy & Co., Cullum street, London, who openly boast of having manufactured and sold those in the collection of the late Hon. T. K. Tapling and other prominent collectors.

With regard to the varieties perforated 13 and 14--while these are undoubtedly rare, all the evidence strongly points to the fact that they are unofficial varieties, a statement, we believe, which has never been seriously combated by students of the early Canadian stamps.

Thus, most of the "contrary" evidence adduced by Mr. King carries no weight with it at all. The most interesting point he raises is the fact that, though the 7-1/2d and 10d denominations were current at the same time as the 1/2d, 3d and 6d, these values were not perforated. So far as the 10d is concerned this seems all the more strange when it is considered that one supply of this value was certainly printed after September, 1857, the date of the Report mentioning the adoption of perforation.

Mr. Howes has made diligent search through official records and carefully scanned itemised reports of more or less petty expenditures, and he was unable to find any reference whatsoever to a disburs.e.m.e.nt such as would have been necessary had the Government purchased a perforating machine or had the stamps perforated by some private concern. It is, therefore, unquestionable that the natural course--i.

e., that the manufacturers should perforate the stamps--was the one followed.

The real root cause of all the problems surrounding these perforated stamps seems to lie in the general acceptance of the a.s.sumption that they were issued in 1857 or early in 1858--an a.s.sumption that appears to be entirely devoid of the support of tangible facts when the matter is scrutinised thoroughly. Mr. Howes has delved into the subject with his usual thoroughness and his deductions are so well founded that we imagine no unbiased student will venture to do other than agree that his findings are fully borne out by the history of the stamps so far as we know it. We, therefore, make no apology for reproducing his arguments in full:--

The date usually a.s.signed to the appearance of the perforated stamps is January, 1858. The London Society gave simply "1857,"

which is apparently set down merely because they have just quoted the announcement from the Postmaster General's Report for that year. Evans and Moens, in their catalogues, both name the date as November, 1858. Unfortunately, no more authoritative statement has been found, except that in Messrs. Corwin and King's article they say "Mr. Hooper positively states that it took place in January, 1858." Mr. John R. Hooper was at that time (1890) connected with the Canadian Post Office Department at Ottawa and took pains to look up much information for the above-mentioned gentlemen. His reasons for the "positive statement" are not given, and inasmuch as he is quoted elsewhere as saying that "the records of the Post Office Department are silent as to where this perforation was performed and by whom," and also seems a little uncertain in some other details, we feel that further confirmation is needed.

In our table above we have given the supplies received after the 30th September, 1857, and deducted the remainders so as to have the actual number issued. The 10d has already proved a stumbling block, for it was not perforated at all! Next we find the 6d to the number of 150,000, when the total issue, including the laid paper, was but 400,000; yet the catalogue value of the imperforates is some $6 for each variety, and of the perforated stamp at least $30! Can anyone doubt that all these 150,000 6d stamps were _not_ perforated? In the case of the 3d we have one and a third millions to compare with a total issue of three and a half millions--about a third in the supposed perforated cla.s.s. Yet the catalogue value of the latter is $2.50 against 36 cents for the wove paper imperforate alone. With the 1/2d stamp there are two millions against a total of three and a third millions, or about two to one in favor of the supposed perforated stamps, yet the latter are double the catalogue price of the former! The only conclusion to be drawn from these regularly appearing inconsistencies in each value is that all the supplies after 30th September, 1857, were _not_ perforated, as the 10d stamp very glaringly intimates!