Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 28

[139] =Monthly Journal=, VIII: 230.

[140] The stamp accounts show that 223,600 8 cent stamps had been "issued to postmasters" previous to 30th June, 1897.

Well, perhaps the excess did not reach the public, but the stamp accounts exhibit a peculiar coincidence in connection therewith. The tables of receipt and issue of stamp supplies for 1897, as already stated, contain the memos of the return of 40,000 8 cent stamps, by postmasters, and their destruction. The tables for 1898 contain two columns, one of stamps returned by postmasters, "unfit for use", and the other "fit for use". The former were supposed to be destroyed, the latter placed in stock again. Now note: the values from 1/2 cent to 50 cents inclusive, "fit for use", were returned in quant.i.ties varying from 200 to 250 copies, with two exceptions; the dollar values in quant.i.ties from 400 to 675. The two exceptions were the 6 cent at 1,148 copies, _and the 8 cent at 42,300 copies_!! This last figure looks so familiar that we cannot help wondering whether a second call had been sent out for the return of 40,000 _more_ of the 8 cent, subsequent to the closing of the 1897 accounts, or if (which seems more probable) the first return had not been slipped into stock instead of being actually destroyed, and reappeared thus in the 1898 accounts! _Quien sabe?_

All the other values to and including the 2 dollars, were received in their proper amounts and were all issued to postmasters, the last record of the series from 1/2 cent to 1 dollar, inclusive, appearing in the 1900 Report. The figures for the dollar values prove rather interesting so we give them here:--

1905 Ret'd and 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. Total. On hand. Destroyed.

$1.00 received 7,500 15,000 2,400 100 ... 25,000 ... 94 issued 5,830 16,771 3,599 500 ... 26,700

$2.00 received 7,500 5,000 ... 6,000 6,500 25,000 ... 66 issued 5,830 4,334 888 7,225 8,775 27,052

$3.00 received 7,500 5,000 ... 500 1,000 14,000 2,650 1,835 issued 5,830 4,044 591 1,700 1,250 13,415

$4.00 received 7,500 5,000 ... 500 2,000 15,000 3,050 2,013 issued 5,830 3,945 640 1,675 1,775 13,865

$5.00 received 7,500 5,000 ... 500 3,000 16,000 2,100 1,240 issued 5,830 3,844 689 2,075 3,325 15,763

Comment:--The three highest dollar values were apparently never delivered to their full requisition--25,000 each. All but the 1 dollar were issued in goodly numbers in 1901,--four years after their first appearance! The 1 and 2 dollar stamps were both issued to an amount of about 2,000 more than were received from the manufacturers, but this excess is easily explained by the reissue of stamps returned by postmasters and placed again in stock. The entire issue drops out of sight with the 1901 Report, but the 1905 Report suddenly presents the figures given for the three high values still on hand, and records 30 of the 5 dollar stamps turned in for destruction. Once more, in the 1909 Report, we find 1,783 of the 3 dollar, 1,954 of the 4 dollar and 1,151 of the 5 dollar stamps returned for destruction, so that allowing for the total number destroyed and the amount on hand (which may be) we have for the actual issue of the three high values, instead of 25,000 each, but 9,515 of the 3 dollar, 9,937 of the 4 dollar and 12,660 of the 5 dollar stamps.

CHAPTER XII

THE "MAPLE LEAF" ISSUE OF 1897

Rumors of a new issue, as we know, had been "in the air" ever since the change in the contractors for supplying stamps had been announced. Of course the Jubilee issue was a special affair, and for a time sidetracked other considerations. A new permanent series was not forgotten, however, and under "Ottawa Notes" in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ for October 9, 1897, we find the following advance information concerning it:--

A new general issue of Canadian postage stamps is imminent, being necessitated by the fact that the present Liberal government has entered into a new contract for engraving and printing Dominion treasury notes, postage and revenue stamps, and in short, all government matter. The previous contractors were the British American Bank Note Co. of Montreal.... When the bids for a renewal of the engraving contract were opened last winter, it was found that the American Bank Note Company of New York were the lowest bidders, and that they bound themselves in the event of the acceptance of their tender to build and equip a printing establishment in Ottawa, in compliance with the conditions of the bids. Their tender was accepted and they have carried out their undertaking by building a commodious and fully equipped establishment near that of their rivals on Wellington Street. Of the new presses the Jubilee issue of postage stamps were the first fruits. The impending general issue will be required as soon as the existing stock of the current issue is exhausted, and it is rumored that the supply of some values is running low.

This much is announced,--that the design for the new issue has been decided upon; that the center of the stamp will contain a portrait of the Queen taken at the time of the Jubilee, approved and signed by the Queen as the best existing likeness of her, and that our national emblem, the maple leaf, will appear in the corners--not the unnatural and misshapen leaf that appears on the Jubilee issue, but the real article, copied from actual leaves gathered on Parliament hill. This would indicate that there will be only one die for all the values, but I have as yet no information as to size, colours, or details.

A couple of weeks later a circular was sent to postmasters announcing the new stamps, etc., of which the following is a copy:[141]--

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.

[141] =American Journal of Philately=, 2nd Series, X: 502.

These instructions were followed out, and the issue of the new series was thus stretched over a considerable length of time. The first to appear was the 1/2 cent, two weeks after the date of the above circular.

The circ.u.mstances of its debut are told under "Ottawa Notes" in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_:[142]--

The half cent stamp of the new issue was placed on sale today [9th November, 1897], its appearance having been precipitated by events over which the postal authorities had no control.... The philatelists, antic.i.p.ating an early exhaustion of the old half cent stamp, helped the thing along by quietly but a.s.siduously buying in every copy in sight. As a consequence the stock ran down much faster than that of other values, and a few weeks ago orders were issued that no more were to be sold to the public, but that publishers ent.i.tled to the half cent rate should take their papers to the post-offices and there have the stamps affixed by the staff. Even that did not save the distance [_sic_]. I hear that in Montreal it was found necessary to use cent stamps to prepay the half cent rate.[143] Fortunately for the reputation of Canadian stamps, these stamps were not over-printed with new value, and we have been spared a surcharge. However, the postal authorities hurried forward the printing and circulation of the new issue, in that value at least, and it is an accomplished fact.

[142] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XII: 86.

[143] See page 156.

The next value to appear was the 6 cent, which was announced in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ under date of 4th December, 1897 as having been put in circulation. Following closely upon this came the 1, 2, 5 and 8 cent stamps, and in January, 1898 the 3 and 10 cent.

The new stamps were very simple in design, the central oval containing a portrait of Queen Victoria copied from a photograph by W. & D. Downey of London, taken at the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. CANADA POSTAGE and the value in words only appear in Egyptian capitals on the oval frame to the portrait, and each spandrel is occupied by a maple leaf. Much criticism was engendered by the fact that the portrait was too large for its frame, making the design appear cramped and thus giving a disappointing effect to what otherwise might have proved a most neat and effective stamp. [Ill.u.s.tration No. 36 on Plate II].

The stamps were as usual line engraved on steel, and printed on the same stout white wove paper that was employed for the Jubilee issue, as well as on a thinner and more brittle quality. The 5 cent, for the first time in Canadian philatelic history, appeared on a colored paper, the stock having a decidedly bluish tint. The perforation was the regulation gauge 12. But one irregularity seems to be known, and that is the 5 cents imperforate, a block of four of which we are able to ill.u.s.trate as No.

112 on Plate X.

The sheet arrangement was intended to be the usual block of 100 impressions, ten by ten, but the Ottawa correspondent of the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ tells us that in the case of the 1/2 cent stamp the first plate was twice this size.

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.[144]

[144] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XII: 132.

The imprint on the sheets was the same as that on the Jubilee sheets, OTTAWA--No--1, etc., but instead of numbering the plates all consecutively, each denomination began its own series with "No 1." The imprint is placed in the top margin only, over the middle two stamps (5 and 6) of the top row. In the case of the 14 cent stamps each style of the first two plates was numbered "1". The plate of 200 impressions was arranged in ten horizontal rows of twenty stamps each, thus bringing the imprint over stamps 10 and 11 of the top row, and as it was between these that the large sheets were severed, the imprint was cut in two in the process. All the other values were made up in sheets of 100 only.

For the information of plate number collectors we give a list of such numbers as we have been able to ascertain.

1/2 cent, No. 1 (2 plates).

1 " Nos. 1, 2.

2 " Nos. 1, 2, 3.

3 " Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

5 " No. 1,.

6 " No. 1.

8 " No. 1.

10 " No. 1.

The quant.i.ty of each value issued before they were replaced by the stamps with numerals is stated to have been as follows:[145]--

1/2 cent 2,000,000 1 " 34,000,000 2 " 12,000,000 3 " 44,000,000 5 " 3,500,000 6 " 500,000 8 " 1,400,000 10 " 500,000

[145] =Metropolitan Philatelist=, X: 117.

A similar variation is found in the dimensions of these stamps to that occurring in the 7-1/2 d. and 10d. stamps and the issue of 1868, and has caused quite a little comment from those unfamiliar with this phenomenon. As much as 1/2 mm. in the vertical measurements can be found between many stamps. The cause is of course the uneven shrinking of the dampened paper when drying after being printed upon. This was fully discussed in an earlier chapter.[146] As the paper in the present instance is very similar in quality to that used for printing the United States stamps, in which the same peculiarity occurs, we will quote Mr. Melville's comment on the subject:[147]--

As we have said, the paper is impressed when damp.... This wetting-down business has another effect which has always puzzled philatelists. The wet paper is taken into a hot room to dry, and in drying it contracts. The contraction is not uniform and the philatelist in trying to prove the existence of more than one original die will pin his faith to the idea that if the varieties noticeable were due to contraction of the paper the contraction would be proportionate on all sides of the stamp. This is not the case however.