Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery

by Clifton A. Howes

The colors of these small stamps were intended to be the same as those of the larger stamps they superseded, and in the main they were so. The orange and orange yellow shades of the 1 cent stamp appear to have been the earlier ones, while the yellow tints came in the later printings. The 2 cent follows the green of its predecessor very closely. The 3 cent, as might be expected, is more prolific in the variety of shades presented. The Philatelist chronicled it (March, 1870) in the "same colour as before," while Moens, in Le Timbre-Poste, was more specific and gave it as red-brown. In May, 1873, the Stamp Collector's Magazine lists it in orange-vermilion, while The Philatelist says vermilion and Le Timbre-Poste bright orange. The 5 cent stamp did not vary a great deal except in tone, though Le Timbre-Poste notes it as "black-gray" in July, 1877. The 6 cent was also fairly constant in its brown shade. The 10 cent appeared at first in what, for want of a better name, may be called a rose-lilac. The Stamp Collector's Magazine called it pale rose, and the American Journal, of Philately said it was a "peculiar pale rose" which was a new tint. The latter paper notes it again in a "bright carnation" in March, 1876, while Le Timbre-Poste in August of the same year chronicles it in "pale red instead of lilac."

We have been thus particular in listing the record of early shades because of the changes which come later.

In the January, 1888, issue of the Halifax Philatelist we find the following note under "Canada":—"The plate of the 2 c. stamp has been re-engraved. Color is now dark green". No details of such re-engraving were forthcoming, but in the June, 1888, number of the Philatelic Record is a paragraph which evidently refers to the same stamp:—"A correspondent has sent us a specimen of the 2 cents, green, which he calls a new die. We fail to see it; but what we do see is, that the stamp is printed from a lithographed transfer." This surprising statement seemed to excite no special comment save from the sagacious M. Moens, who remarks:[106] "Nous avons également reçu ce timbre qui parait lithographié, par suite d'usure de la planche, croyons-nous, car la feuille entière que nous avons annonce que l'impression a été faite,

comme antérieurement, par la British American Bank Note Co. de Montreal et Ottawa, qui ne s'occupe pas d'impression lithographique que nous sachions."

Without doubt M. Moens gave the correct explanation, for the imprint that he mentions will be recognized as the one to be found on the earliest plates of the small stamps, and 1888 was thirteen years at least after the second type of imprint with "Montreal" only had been introduced. Hence the stamp in question was probably a late print from a worn plate, which gave a rather flat and indistinct impression that might suggest lithography, though it is certain that Canada has never yet stooped to such a cheap means of postage stamp production. A similar case may be recalled with the ½ penny stamp of St. Helena which was issued in 1884, and which presented a like appearance.

Whether the above incident had anything to do with the change of the printing company from Montreal to Ottawa, which we have already noted in describing the imprints, we cannot say, but it is certain that it was the beginning of changes, in shade at least, which affected the whole series of stamps. We have the authority of the Postmaster General's Report for 1889 that the "removal of the British American Bank Note Co. from Montreal to Ottawa" had taken place—evidently early in 1888, as will be seen later—so that the use of an old worn-out plate might have been a case of temporary necessity. Further details are given by the Canadian correspondent of the Weekly Philatelic Era[107] as follows: "About six years ago the Government insisted on their contractors doing their printing at the Capital, and the British American Bank Note Co. erected a handsome establishment on Wellington Street, where all postage stamps have since been printed. It may be remembered that the Ottawa printings were signalized by distinct varieties in shade from the earlier Montreal issues, varieties that have never been sufficiently distinguished in the standard catalogues."

These changes in the stamp shades were soon noted. In March, 1888, the Philatelic Record described the 10 cent stamp as "now in carmine-red", while two months later it chronicled the 5 cent as changed "from bronze-green to greenish-grey." We have already noted the change in the 15 cent to a color approximating its original mauve, "only more of a bluish tinge," which the Halifax Philatelist recorded in July, 1888. The following October the same paper listed the 3 cent in a "bright carmine", and in July, 1889, an

nounced the 2 cent in "blue green". The 6 cent lagged behind the others and did not manifest itself until the American Journal of Philately announced it in October, 1890, in a "rich brown." Once again, Le Timbre-Poste for April, 1892, stated that the 5 cent had "since the 8th March, appeared in gray black". The 1 cent doubtless had its special hue of yellow along with the other changes, but it was not recorded, probably because not distinct enough from the usual run of variations in which it had been appearing.

That the above changes were hardly of a character to warrant dignifying them as a "new issue," which is frequently done, is shown by a moment's consideration. The ½ cent and 1 cent stamps showed no appreciable difference in coloring and therefore caused no comment. The 2 cent did not maintain its blue green shade unaltered, and the 3 cent soon reverted to its former brilliant red hue, as the Philatelic Journal of America for May, 1889, says that "the carmine color recently adopted has been dropped, and the stamps are printed in colors similar to the ones in use before the change was made." The 5, 6 and 10 cent stamps, however, made permanent changes, but only such as might readily be traceable to a new mixing of the inks in the case of the first two. The 10 cent can hardly be so easily disposed of, as lake and brown-red are of quite different composition from a rose-lilac. But there can have been no official intention of altering the shades or colors or more definite and permanent changes would certainly have been made throughout the set. It remains, therefore, to classify them simply as shade varieties of the original set.

Mr. King gives a list of eight varieties of paper[108] for the "small cents issues", but we have deemed it sufficient to note a thick and a thin white wove paper, and a closely ribbed paper. All values are reported as existing with the compound perforation (11½ × 12) spoken of under the 1868 issue. We also find all values occurring in an imperforate condition. The 3 cent was first noted in the Philatelic Record for December, 1882; the 15 cent we have already spoken of under the 1868 issue; and the 5, 6 and 10 cent at least, from the shades of the specimens we have seen, belong to the printings subsequent to the color modifications of 1888-90. Concerning these imperforates, we find in a paper on Canada, read before the Royal Philatelic Society by Mr. M. H. Horsley,[109] the following note: