Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery Part 8

VI. All public doc.u.ments and printed papers may be sent by the Speaker or Chief Clerk of the Legislative Council or of the Legislative a.s.sembly, to any Member of either of the said branches of the Legislature of Canada, during the recess of Parliament, free of Postage.

VII. Members of either branch of the Legislature of Canada may send during the recess of Parliament by mail, free of Postage, all papers printed by order of either branch of the Legislature of Canada.

IX. This Act shall come into effect on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and fifty-five.

There is a bit of conflict here. The "enactment clause" of the above Act makes it operative unequivocally on July 1, 1855. Yet the Postmaster General's report, just quoted, which is supposed to be for the fiscal year ending 31st March, 1855, distinctly states that the provisions of the above Act came into effect "in July last," which would seem to be July, 1854. The Act itself is not in error, so the discrepancy must lie in the Postmaster General's report. Probably the report was written much later in the year than March 31st, as it was not presented to Parliament until the fall session, and therefore gave opportunity to refer back to happenings in July.

The growth of the Department during the first four years under Provincial control is ill.u.s.trated by the following table:--

Post Miles Letters Correspondence Date Offices of mailed Gross Revenue with in Routes. per the U. S.

operation. week

6th April, 1851 601 7,595 41,000 93,802 5th April, 1852 840 8,618 71,726 71,788.18. 5 $ 85,636.97 31st Mar., 1853 1,016 9,122 81,896 84,866. 6. 11-1/2 $104,966.40 31st Mar., 1854 1,166 10,027 98,350 98,495. 6. 7 $129,921.67 31st Mar., 1855 1,293 11,192 116,671 110,747.12. 9-1/2 $145,377.69

The number of post offices had more than doubled; the length of the post routes had increased by fifty per cent; and although the revenue had dropped one quarter during the first year, owing to the reduction in postage rates, it had increased by half in the next three years; while the total correspondence between Canada and the United States had increased by two thirds in the same three years.

But the item that interests us particularly in this report reads:--

To promote the general convenience in prepaying letters to the United Kingdom at the new rate, postage stamps of the value of 10d.

Currency, equal to 8d. sterling, were procured and issued for sale to the public.

Thus part of the recommendation contained in the report for the preceding year was carried out.

In the accounts for the fiscal year we find the following entries:--

1st. Quarter, Rawdon, Wright & Co., Postage Stamps for P. O. Dept. 12.12.6

3rd. Quarter, Rawdon, Wright & Co., Making Stamps 42.18.6

4th. Quarter, Rawdon, Wright & Co., Postage Stamps for P. O. Dept. 17.13.6

From this it would appear that the bill for engraving ("making") the new 10d. stamp was paid in the third quarter of the fiscal year, corresponding to the last quarter of 1854. According to the table of receipts from manufacturers in the "summary" already quoted,[35] the 10d. stamp was first received by the Post Office Department on Jan. 2, 1855. In Mr. King's "Reference List,"[36] however, the date "Dec. 5, 1854" is given as being "taken from used stamps on the original covers,"

but this must certainly be a mistake. The "summary" also gives the quant.i.ties issued to postmasters by quarters, and there were none issued (naturally) in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 1854. In the next quarter, ending Mar. 31, 1855, there were 16,200 issued to postmasters, so that the first issue probably took place soon after receipt, that is, in January, 1855. The total number received from the manufacturers in this first delivery was 100,080.

[35] Metropolitan Philatelist, XVII: 83.

[36] Monthly Journal, VII: 9.

The plate for this stamp is stated to have been made up for printing sheets of 100 impressions in ten rows of ten, like the three values of 1851, and also to have had the eight marginal imprints. But there are reasons for thinking it may have been made to print 120 impressions, ten rows of twelve each, concerning which more will be said later.

Suffice it to remark here that the number delivered (100,080) is exactly divisible by 120, making 834 full sheets, which is not the case if 100 is used. The normal color of the stamp is a very deep blue.

The design of the new 10d., ill.u.s.trated as No. 3 on Plate I, corresponds in general style to the 6d. and 12d. of 1851, but the portrait in the central oval is of Jacques Cartier, the explorer and founder of Canada.

There has been some discussion over the ident.i.ty of the original, it having been claimed that the subject was Sebastian Cabot, the discoverer, just as the portrait on the 6d. stamp has been a.s.signed to Lord Elgin, Governor-General of Canada from 1846 to 1854.[37]

Unfortunately no circular announcing the issue of the stamp has come to hand, and, as seen from the quotation already given, the report of the Postmaster General does not give us the information. It is nevertheless a fact that the portrait represents Cartier, the original being a three-quarter length painting in the Hotel de Ville at St. Malo, France, the birthplace of Cartier. The inscriptions in the oval frame are in this case separated by a small picture of the beaver at the right, and three maple leaves at the left. The value is expressed as TEN PENCE, with the numerals "10" in the lower spandrels, followed by the letters "cy" for "currency." In the upper spandrels is the corresponding value in sterling money, expressed as "8d stg". The relation between sterling and currency values and their equivalents in the decimal coinage of the United States was fixed by law, and the matter seems important enough to reproduce the statute here.

[37] Philatelic Record, X: 50.

16^o Vict. Cap. CLVIII.

An Act to regulate the Currency. [a.s.sented to 14th June, 1853.]

II. And be it enacted, That the denominations of money in the Currency of this Province, shall be pounds, dollars, s.h.i.+llings, pence, cents and mills: the pound, s.h.i.+lling and penny shall have, respectively, the same proportionate values as they now have, the dollar shall be one-fourth of a pound, the cent shall be one-hundredth of a dollar, and the mill one-tenth of a cent....

III. And be it enacted, That the Pound Currency shall be held to be equivalent to and to represent one hundred and one grains and three hundred and twenty-one thousandths of a grain Troy weight of Gold of the Standard of fineness now prescribed by Law for the Gold Coins of the United Kingdom; and the Dollar Currency shall be held to be equivalent to and to represent one fourth part of the weight aforesaid of Gold of the said Standard....

IV. And be it enacted, That the Pound Sterling shall be held to be equal to one pound, four s.h.i.+llings and four pence, or four dollars, eighty-six cents and two-thirds of a cent, Currency....

IX. And be it enacted, That ... the Gold Eagle of the United States, coined after [1st. July, 1834], ... and weighing ten penny weights, eighteen grains, Troy weight, shall pa.s.s current and be a legal tender in this Province for ten Dollars or two pounds ten s.h.i.+llings currency....

Further supplies of the 10d. stamp were not needed for three years, the next lot, numbering 72,120, having been delivered during the year ending 30th Sept., 1858, according to the table of stamp statistics. These two lots were the only ones delivered, and the balance on hand when the decimal stamps appeared being 31,200, we find a total issue for the 10d.

stamp of 141,000.

Puzzling questions seem to be the rule with this first series of Canadian stamps, and the 10d. is no exception. The stamp occurs, to all appearances, in at least _two sizes_, one of which has been termed the "wide oval" and the other the "narrow oval." These are well brought out by ill.u.s.trations Nos. 70 (wide) and 71 (narrow) on Plate IV. Very likely the peculiarity was noticed much earlier, but it seems to have been brought to the attention of collectors generally for the first time by Mr. W. H. Brouse, in a paper read before the London Philatelic Society on Feb. 3, 1894.[38] We quote this entire:--

[38] London Philatelist, III: 34.

"I have carefully read such Philatelic articles or publications relating to British North American stamps as have come under my notice, but have as yet not come across anything relating to the difference in Canadians that is to be found in the 7-1/2d. Canadian currency (6d. sterling), green, and the 10d., blue, and so concluded that it may have pa.s.sed my observation, or, if not, has not yet been 'written up.' Will you therefore pardon a short note on the subject?

"Of the 10d., blue, there are three distinct varieties in design, viz.,

First (_a_) the long and narrow; Second (_b_) the long and broad: and Third (_c_) the short and broad.

"The outside edges or ornaments are in all three cases the same, but the difference lies in the fact of the oval or frame around the head having been, as the case may be, elongated or contracted, or sometimes widened out.

"The extreme variation in length is about one-sixteenth of an inch, which is considerable in a postage stamp. I doubt very much if this happened through intention, but rather think that it is the result of what might be termed 'engravers' license.' However, whatever it may be, the result is that there are three distinct varieties.

"It will, I think, be found that the earlier one of these is the long and narrow, on thinnish paper; then the long and broad (which is the most common), on thicker paper; and lastly, the short and broad, on medium paper. The latter is the scarcer, and consequently the most valuable.

"I have for a long time known of the above differences, and at first thought it only an optical delusion, owing to some of the copies having had their sides closely trimmed, but on closer observation the distinct differences, as I have mentioned, were manifest. What is said of the 10d. may also be said of the 7-1/2d. (but to a lesser degree of variation), only the latter are generally found in the long and broad frame or oval. A slight difference also occurs in the 6d., violet; no variation appears in the length of the stamp, though I have two specimens in which the oval or frame shows a contraction in width to the extent of about one-forty-eighth of an inch, and is quite noticeable.

"This may be 'piper's news' to some of the members of the Philatelic Society, London, but to others it may be of interest, and for that reason I beg your indulgence."

Mr. Castle, in reading the foregoing paper at the meeting of the London Philatelic Society, shewed specimens of the stamps described by Mr. Brouse, and added a few remarks as under.

"I venture to think the modest disclaimer on the part of Mr. Brouse, in his closing sentence, is hardly borne out in view of the interesting communication he has made. To me the information was certainly novel, and I could hardly credit that there should exist such differences in size until I had verified the fact by examination of specimens. Owing to the kindness of Messrs. Stanley Gibbons, Limited, and Mr. W. H. Peckitt, I was enabled to inspect a number of these pence issues, and I have tabulated the measurements as nearly as I can:--

HALFPENNY.

Size. Paper.