The old adage that "history repeats itself" was again exemplified in Canadian stamps when in July, 1882, the ½ cent stamp, for fourteen years unaltered, was once more reduced to a smaller size than the regular series. The general effect of the design remained the same, but the foliate ornamentation gave place to angular outlines. The illustration will be found as No. 27 on [Plate II].
All of the above mentioned stamps, except the ½ cent as will be explained, were line engraved on steel and printed in sheets of 100, ten rows of ten. The marginal imprints turn out to be of three varieties in this series, and we have pieced together what information we can concerning them, for strips with marginal imprints are extremely hard to find now. The first plates made, including at least the 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 cent stamps, and probably the 10 cent as well, since that was engraved before the 5 cent, had the denomination in shaded Roman capitals, 4 mm. high, [Illustration No. 121 on [Plate XI]], over stamps 2 and 3 of the top row. Sometimes the shading is hardly apparent, as in our illustration, but it can be detected. Beginning over stamp 4, extending over stamps 5 and 6, and ending over stamp 7, is the inscription we found on the series of 1868 (see illustration 107 on [Plate IX]), "BRITISH AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. MONTREAL & OTTAWA"
in colorless Roman capitals in the little strip of color 1 mm. wide and 51 mm. long. This imprint is also beneath the bottom row of stamps and at each side, reading up at the left and down at the right [Illustration No. 111 on [Plate X]]. We have so far not seen this inscription on the 5 cent and 10 cent sheets, and doubt if it exists on the former at least.
About 1875 the engraving company seem to have dropped their Ottawa branch, for on the large 5 cent stamp, whose plate was made in that year, we find the new imprint "British American Bank Note Co. Montreal" in capitals and lower case letters on a colored strip 56 mm. long and 2½ mm. wide, having a pearled border. This imprint is found on all four sides of the sheet, as before, as reference to Plates X, XI and XII will show, and on the plates of all values. In the case of the 6 and 10 cent stamps, and perhaps some others as well, the value SIX, TEN, etc. is now found in the shaded Roman capitals over stamp number 9 of the top row, but lacking the word CENTS. Over stamp number 2 of the top row is the figure of value, 6 mm. high, [Illustration No. 118, [Plate XI]]. A sheet of the small 5 cent stamps which we have seen, however, does not follow this arrangement but reverts to the first style with FIVE CENTS in the shaded Roman capitals over the first three stamps of the top row only, though having the four "Montreal" imprints. Again, a sheet of 3 cent that we have examined has the word THREE alone in the shaded Roman capitals over the first two stamps of the top row, and the "Montreal" imprint at the center of the top and bottom rows only, there being nothing at the sides. A sheet of 1 cent presents still another style, having the "Montreal" imprint at top and bottom alone, and no other marginal inscriptions. We have seen no sheet or margin of the 2 cent stamp bearing the "Montreal" imprint, but it doubtless exists.
Whether the arrangement of these marginal inscriptions is a special one for each value, or whether each style described exists in all values there does not seem to be material enough at hand to determine. Probably neither statement is wholly in accordance with facts, as there must have been a great many plates of the 1 cent and 3 cent stamps, with proportionately fewer for the less used values. There seems to have been no system of plate numbering, as far as we can discover, though some margins show reversed letters or figures about 3 to 4 mm. high in various positions; they do not appear to have any special significance, however.
In regard to the ½ cent of 1882, which we excepted from the above statements, there is a special arrangement to consider. The stamp was of
course line engraved on steel, as before, but the plate printed two panes of 100 impressions each, side by side. These panes were the usual 10 × 10 arrangement, and were separated by a space of 11 mm. through which they were cut into two "post office sheets". The marginal inscriptions were simply the "Montreal" imprint [illustration No. 127 on [Plate XII]] which appeared six times—at the top and bottom of each pane, in the right margin of the right hand pane and the left margin of the left hand pane, there being no imprint in the space between the two panes. Over the top inscription of the right pane is the reversed figure 1, 4 mm. high, and in the same position on the left pane the corresponding figure 2, evidently to designate the panes.
Once again, and this time the fact was noted in some of the philatelic journals, the imprint was changed. The engraving company had been required by the Government to do its printing at Ottawa,[105] and under "Canada Notes" in Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News for December 21, 1892, "Canadensis" reports: "The new plates of the Canada stamps now bear this imprint: 'British American Bank Note Co. Ottawa', instead of Montreal. The matrix being made from the old die are exactly like the previous issues." The new imprint is a copy of the first one we described, with "Montreal &" omitted. It is 40 mm. long and 1½ mm. wide and is well shown in illustration No. 123 on [Plate XII]. These new plates were doubtless the ones heralded in the Dominion Philatelist for September, 1892, wherein it is stated that "the present issue of Canada 3 c. Stamps are being printed and issued in sheets of 200 instead of 100 as formerly." And again in the same paper for May, 1893: "The Canada 1c., 2c., and 3c. stamps are now being printed in sheets of 200." This new sheet arrangement consisted of ten horizontal rows of twenty stamps each. The "Ottawa" imprint appears three times, once in the middle of the top margin, over stamps 10 and 11, and twice in the bottom margin, beneath stamps 5 and 6, and again beneath stamps 15 and 16. There are no imprints at the sides. The denomination appears in the top margin at both right and left and in a new style of lettering on these larger plates. Thus we find ONE CENT or TWO CENT over stamps 2 and 3 as well as 18 and 19, or THREE CENT over the first four and last four stamps in plain Egyptian capitals, (see illustration No. 120 on [Plate XI]).
One other imprint was used on the 2 cent value at least, but we have so far seen it on no other. It was 49 mm. long and nearly 2 mm. wide, but otherwise is a duplicate of the smaller "Ottawa" imprint. A portion of it
is seen in illustration No. 129 on [Plate XIII]. The sheet was in the 10 × 10 form, and the imprint appeared at top and bottom only, there being no other marginal inscriptions. From the sheet form it would seem probable that it preceded the use of the sheets of 200 stamps.