The next reference to the envelopes, including the accounts, appears in the Report for the year ending 30th September, 1860, as follows:
STAMPED ENVELOPES.
| 5c. | 10c. | Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received from Mfrs. | 200,000 | 100,000 | 21,500.00 |
| Issued for sale during 8 months to Sept. 30, | 136,177 | 45,651 | 12,283.09 |
| Remaining, | 63,823 | 54,349 | 9,216.91 |
The number of Stamped Envelopes, actually used by the public, has been but small, as a considerable proportion of those issued remain in the hands of Postmasters.
The cost of manufacture of the stamped envelopes was included, as we have already seen,[205] in the payments made to the American Bank Note Co. for stamps, etc., in 1860, so that they were obtained from that firm. They were not manufactured by them, however, but by George F. Nesbitt & Co. of New York, who at that time held the contract for supplying the United States Government with stamped envelopes. The similarity of the stamped impression, both in size and general arrangement, to the United States envelope dies of 1860 will be noted, and the paper used for the envelopes will be found to be similar, even to the watermark, while the two "knives" used for cutting the envelope blanks will be found to agree with numbers 2 and 11 of the Tiffany, Bogert and Rechert catalog. It was evidently a case of the Bank Note Co. subletting the contract to Nesbitt, who was regularly in the business.
Nothing further appears in the Reports in regard to the stamped envelopes, except the tables of statistics, until the Report of 30th June, 1864, which says:—"In order to promote the use of the Stamped Envelopes a reduction in the price to the public was made from 1st October, 1864, from $5.50 per 100 for the five cent and $10.50 per 100 for the ten cent envelopes, to $5.30 and $10.30 per 100 respectively." But even this bait did not attract, for the next year's Report remarks:—"The recent reduction in the price of stamped envelopes has not led to any material increase in the demand." For two years longer the accounts are given, but with the first Report of the Dominion of Canada, for the year ending 30th June, 1868, they disappear, the envelopes evidently having been given up as a bad investment at the close of the accounts of the Province of Canada, when it was merged into the Dominion.
We have already quoted the figures for the first supplies received and the quantities first issued to postmasters. It may be well to give the entire record for its historical value:
| 5 cent. | 10 cent. | |
|---|---|---|
| Balance on hand, 30th Sept. 1860, | 63,823 | 54,349 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 1,529 | 1,905 |
| 65,352 | 56,254 | |
| Issued for sale during year, | 20,700 | 806 |
| Balance on hand, 30th Sept. 1861, | 44,652 | 55,448 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 251 | 314 |
| 44,903 | 55,762 | |
| Issued for sale during year, | 9,595 | 844 |
| Balance on hand, 30th Sept. 1862, | 35,308 | 54,918 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 4 | |
| 35,308 | 54,922 | |
| Issued for sale during year, | 15,200 | 900 |
| Balance on hand, 30th Sept. 1863, | 20,108 | 54,022 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 5,000 | 2,997 |
| 25,108 | 57,019 | |
| Issued during 9 months, | 14,800 | 850 |
| Balance on hand, 30th June, 1864, | 10,308 | 56,169 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 6,444 | 5,632 |
| Received from manufacturers, | 25,000 | |
| 41,752 | 61,801 | |
| Issued for sale during year, | 23,583 | 5,698 |
| Balance on hand 30th June, 1865, | 18,169 | 56,103 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 382 | 225 |
| 18,551 | 56,328 | |
| Issued to 30th June, 1866, | 16,225 | 625 |
| Balance 30th June, 1866, | 2,326 | 55,703 |
| Returned by Post Masters, unsold, | 193 | |
| 2,326 | 55,896 | |
| Deduct envelopes short received, | 10 | |
| 2,316 | 55,896 | |
| Issued to 30th. June, 1867, | 2,270 | 172 |
| Balance 30th. June, 1867, | 46 | 55,724 |