Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 26

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent_.

THE POSTMASTER.

P. S.--As there appears to be a somewhat general desire on the part of many persons to purchase, for souvenir purposes, complete sets of the Jubilee stamps, it is hoped that you will so manage the sale of such stamps that persons applying to purchase full sets may be able to get them.

E. P. S.

[122] =Monthly Journal=, VIII. 177.

The conditions that developed when the stamps were actually issued seem to have surprised the Department, and caused additional measures to be taken for an equable distribution. We quote Mr. F. W. Wurtele:[123]--

The experience of the first day's sale convinced our government that halves and sixes would very soon be bought up by speculators unless some action was taken to further restrict their sale; they therefore came to the conclusion that those persons who were willing to contribute to the revenues of the Canadian Government to the extent of $16.22 for a complete set of jubilee stamps were ent.i.tled to protection, and decided that they at least should not pay more than face value for their 1/2 and 6. In consequence the following circular was issued by the post-office department, and no more of these values could be obtained from any licensed vendor.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA, POSTAGE STAMP BRANCH, OTTAWA, 26th June, 1897.

SIR,--With reference to the numerous demands upon this office for the 1/2 c. and 6c. Jubilee stamps, I am directed to explain that the respective quant.i.ties of Jubilee stamps ordered bear, relatively, the same proportions to the actual requirements of the Postal Service, but the tendency to exhaust the HALVES and SIXES has increased to such a degree, that it has become necessary to restrict their sale to the purchasers of full sets. Hence I am to express the Postmaster-General's regret that he is unable, having regard to the limited character of the Jubilee issue, to comply with any requests for the 1/2c or 6c denomination, apart from those for full sets.

These sets may be obtained as long as the series of Jubilee stamps lasts, but as the demands upon it are unusually heavy, it would be advisable to apply for full sets at the earliest possible moment.

When Postmasters obtain such sets to fill orders actual or prospective at their respective offices, they must not, in any case, break the sets.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent_.

P. S.--Under no circ.u.mstances will there be any issue of Jubilee stamps, beyond the limits mentioned in the accompanying extract from Hansard, containing the Postmaster-General's statement on the subject.

It was necessary to print 3,000 copies of the foregoing circular in order to reply to all the demands on the department at Ottawa for 1/2 c. and 6 c.

[123] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, X: 54.

Not only were the sales of the 1/2 and 6 cent stamps thus restricted, but notices were posted in the offices that none of the 1/2c., 6c., 8c., $1.00, $2.00, $3.00, $4.00, or $5.00 stamps would be sold unless the whole set were taken. This proceeding naturally resulted in considerably more protest on the part of stamp collectors and the public (?). Rumor had it just after the issue was placed on sale that the 8 cent stamp had been withdrawn, which probably accounts for the "run" upon that value and its inclusion in the above restrictions. In fact a correspondent of _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_, writing from Winnipeg, Man., on 25th June, stated that "a sensation was caused amongst those interested by the government on Tuesday [22nd June] recalling, by wire, all the 8c. stamps of the new issue on hand at this office." This was later explained by a letter published in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_:[124]--

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA, POSTAGE STAMP BRANCH, OTTAWA, 29th July, 1897.

SIR,--In reply to your letter of the 26th inst., I am directed to say that the question of issuing partial sets of Jubilee stamps is now under the consideration of the Department. In respect to the recall of the 8 c. Jubilee stamps, I may say that it was but a partial one, and intended to render possible a re-distribution of that stamp on a basis more in accordance with the actual demand therefor.

I am, Sir, Your obdt. servant, E. P. STANTON, Superintendent.

[124] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XI: 416.

Under date of 31st July it was announced from Ottawa that "the demand for complete sets has been very large, about nine thousand sets having already been issued".[125] The "partial sets" referred to in the above letter were the next step in the unbending process, the decision to put them on sale having been reached on 31st July, and their issue to the public beginning on 4th August. Concerning this concession Mr. Donald A.

King says:[126]--

So soon as the demand for these [complete] sets was, to some extent satisfied, the department yielding to another cla.s.s of enquiries and requests for sets up to and including the 50 cents and $1.00 respectively, made a distribution of such sets, the numbers being apportioned upon a basis of the revenue of each money order office throughout the Dominion. Between 30,000 and 40,000 sets were thus distributed, and rapidly sold, as a very large number of requests for further supplies came in from the different offices. The following is the circular sent to postmasters regulating the sale of these partial sets:

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. CANADA, POSTAGE STAMP BRANCH, OTTAWA, [August] 1897.

SIR.--I am directed to transmit to you the accompanying partial sets of Jubilee stamps. These sets consist of two kinds: one from a 1/2c.

to $1.00 (value $2.20-1/2), the other from 1/2c. to 50c. (value $1.20-1/2). You are instructed to sell these stamps as sets, and as sets only, representations having been made to the department that in various parts of the Dominion there is a desire to obtain such sets for souvenir purposes. You must not, under any circ.u.mstances, break a set; for, besides the disappointment that such a course would cause, you would render yourself liable to loss, the department having decided not to allow credit for any broken sets returned to it by a postmaster who, notwithstanding the instructions herein given, sells any denominations of the stamps making up a set apart from the rest.

I am also to ask you to use your best judgment in the sale of these sets, checking, as far as possible, any attempt on the part of speculators to monopolize them, and thus securing as general a distribution of such sets in your vicinity as the circ.u.mstances may permit. To enable you to make change in connection with the sale of the enclosed sets I include a sufficient quant.i.ty of ordinary 1/2 c.

postage stamps.

I may add that the accompanying supply has been based strictly upon the annual revenue of your office, and, having regard to the total number of sets available and the extent of their distribution, represents that proportion to which you are ent.i.tled.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent_.

THE POSTMASTER.

[125] =Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News=, XI: 78.

[126] =Monthly Journal=, VIII: 178.

For disingenuousness, for pathetic regard for the public and the postmaster, and yet withal a keen eye for the "interests" of the department, this circular is a model which should be preserved for posterity--and "businesslike" post office departments.

Mr. King continues:--

The demand for the small sets was so great that the supply was exhausted almost all at once, and in reply to repeated requests for more sets the department issued the following circular:--#/

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA.

(_Office of the Superintendent of the Postage Stamp Branch_).

Ottawa,... 1897.

SIR,--The partial sets of Jubilee stamps already issued to your office const.i.tuted its share of these sets, having regard to their limited number and the area of their distribution, which comprised all the money order offices in the Dominion.

Except a reserve for complete sets (from 1/2c. to $5.00 inclusive, cost $16.20-1/2) there is not a Jubilee stamp left in the department--all having been issued to postmasters. The plates, I may add, were destroyed on the 10th September instant.

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent_.

THE POSTMASTER.

Such is the history of the Diamond Jubilee set of Canadian stamps. We make no comment on it--it seems as if none were necessary and that the presentation is amply sufficient for each to judge for himself concerning it. We will only add Major Evans sapient remark[127]: "All the trouble was the natural result of pretending to treat a commemorative and limited issue as if it had been an ordinary and permanent one. Ordinary common sense should have suggested the issue of large supplies of the lowest value, and a certain number of all values to every office."

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

To revert to the stamps themselves. We have already given a description of the design in one of our previous quotations, but it needs to be amended in one or two particulars. The portrait of Queen Victoria labelled "1837" on the stamp will be recognized as identical with that on the old 12 pence and later 7-1/2 pence values. In fact Mr. Wurtele tells us[128] that a prominent Montreal collector, whose advice was asked when the issue was under consideration, gave the government a magnificent unused copy of the 7-1/2d. green, to be used in engraving the picture. It does not, as stated, show Her Majesty on her coronation day, but is from the painting representing her on the occasion of the prorogation of Parliament, on 17th July, 1837, as already described.[129] The portrait labelled "1897" is from a full length painting executed by command in 1886 by Prof. Von Angelo of Vienna. It represents Her Majesty as she appeared on the a.s.sumption of the t.i.tle "Empress of India", and the curious may find the entire figure copied on the 3 pence post card of Great Britain issued in 1889, and also on the 1 penny card of 1892. This State portrait of the Queen is now in Buckingham Palace. The crown at the top center of the stamp is not the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain but the so-called Tudor Crown. The Imperial Crown is well ill.u.s.trated on the 3 pence and 5 cent "beaver"

stamps, and a comparison with the Jubilee issue will plainly show the difference in the "style" of these two crowns.