Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery

by Clifton A. Howes

The design of these envelope stamps is in all respects similar to the early type, but they are about half again as large. The embossed head of

the Queen is copied from the profile on the "large" cent stamps of 1868 and is tilted forward rather awkwardly in the frame. The 3 cent is printed in bright red varying to rose, but the 1 cent instead of following the yellow color of the adhesive is printed in blue, which varies from quite pale to very dark. The envelopes were manufactured by the British American Bank Note Co. from white laid unwatermarked paper, and have a pointed flap with gum extending nearly the whole length. The smaller sized envelope was also issued with the flap rounded into a tongue, but the larger sized envelope is not known in this form. These "tongued flap" envelopes were apparently an early variety, as the Philatelic Monthly records the 3 cent in its issue for April, 1878. The 1 cent, however, does not seem to have been noted until the June, 1884 issue of Le Timbre-Poste.

The earlier printings of the envelopes were upon a laid paper that had the "cross vergures", or single laid lines that regularly cross the general run, at a spacing of 18 mm. from each other. About 1888 another paper came into use which had these "cross vergures" spaced 24 mm. apart, and in some cases 27 mm. The two papers can be told at a glance as they varied in tone, the latter variety having a slight cream tint and the former being a pure white. These two varieties are of course more noticeable in the entire envelope than in cut squares, and have been listed as "rosy white" and "bluish white" papers, but we feel unable to distinguish them thus as the terms seem wholly inapplicable.

The 1 cent envelope was chronicled in ultramarine in April, 1897, of course on the small sized envelope and the cream toned laid paper.[210]

In May, 1896, the Philatelic Record stated[211] that "Our publishers have the envelope of the 3 cents red value with stamp roughly lithographed instead of being embossed. Mr. J. B. Lewis, of Ottawa, says only 110 were printed." This was a somewhat startling statement, and Major Evans thus comments on it:[212]—

There have been reports of late, in various quarters, of a certain number of the 3c. envelopes, of the current type, having had the stamp impressed upon them by lithography instead of in the usual manner.

The story goes that the embossing die was lost, or mislaid, that a small supply of envelopes was wanted immediately by a business firm, and that a few hundreds were lithographed to fill this demand. The whole story sounds somewhat doubtful, to any one who knows how stamped envelopes are produced, but until quite recently we had not seen a specimen of the supposed lithographed envelopes, and therefore would not express any opinion upon them. A copy has lately been sent to our publishers, and we find it to be practically identical, as far as almost entire absence of embossing is concerned, with some specimens which we obtained in Canada a few years ago; the embossing, in the copy shown us, is not absolutely invisible, there being slight traces of it about the head, and especially the chignon; and if any envelopes have been lithographed, which we greatly doubt, this is not one of them.

The lithographing of a comparatively few envelopes by a country like Canada appears somewhat incredulous on the face of it, and even more so does the "loss" or "misplacing" of the embossing die; the true explanation of the occurrence is doubtless found in the use of a much worn die, or more likely a defective "counter-die" or "bed-plate" which backs the paper.