Canada: Its Postage Stamps and Postal Stationery

by Clifton A. Howes

It strikes one as curious, in glancing over the above, to note the several half penny and one penny rates, as well as two at 7½ pence, and to realize that no stamp of the lowest value, at least, should have been arranged for whereby these amounts could have been prepaid by means of stamps. To be sure, the 7½d. rate could be obtained by halving a three penny stamp in conjunction with a 6d. stamp as was the common practice in Nova Scotia, but no such combination is known on a Canada cover.

Of the three stamps issued, the first and most typical of Canada was the 3d. which was designed, so Mr. C. N. Robertson of Ottawa tells us, by Sir Sanford Fleming, a civil engineer and draughtsman. The central feature is a representation of the beaver in its native haunts, above which is the royal crown of England resting on a rose, thistle and shamrock, with the letters V and R (Victoria Regina) at either side. A reference to figure 6 on [Plate I] makes further description unnecessary. The normal color was a bright red.

A quite marked variety of this stamp occurs in what is generally known as a "double strike" or "shifted transfer." It is not due to accidental light contact of the sheet in printing, previous to the heavier impression in a slightly changed position, as is often suggested, but is a true plate variety, caused by a slight impression of the transfer roller in the wrong position on the plate previous to the heavy impression sunk in the proper position. This fact is shown by its being found in pairs and blocks with the normal stamp. It is recognized by the letters EE PEN being "doubled" at the top, making it appear as if a line had been drawn through the words and giving it the name, occasionally used of the "line through threepence" variety. The figure 3 also appears doubled at the bottom. Its position in the sheet has not been determined, but it occurs on all papers.

The 6d. stamp is in the usual upright form, containing a portrait of Albert, the Prince Consort. It has been impossible to trace the original of the picture, though diligent search has been made. The rose, thistle and shamrock again appear on the stamp, at either side of the oval frame and separating the inscriptions. Figure 1 of [Plate I] gives an excellent reproduction of this value. The normal color may be said to have been a slate violet.

The 12d. stamp is very similar in design to the 6d. stamp, but contains a portrait of Queen Victoria. This beautiful head, so often seen upon the early British Colonial stamps, was taken from the full length painting by Alfred Edward Chalon, R. A., which was ordered by the Queen for her mother, the Duchess of Kent, as a souvenir of Her Majesty's first visit to the House of Lords. The occasion was the prorogation of Parliament, on July 17, 1837, and the Queen is portrayed in her robes of state, because of which fact the painting is sometimes described as "in Coronation Robes," but this is erroneous.[10] The stamp is illustrated as figure 2 on [Plate I], and it will be noticed that the inscriptions in the oval frame are this time separated on either side by the royal crown. The color is black.

The peculiarity in the expression of the value of this stamp as "Twelve Pence" instead of "One Shilling," which would seem to be the natural form for such an amount in English money, was long a moot question amongst collectors. It was even suggested as an "error" of the American manufacturers of the stamp! But the controversy has been practically settled by reference to the monetary conditions of the period. A glance back at the rates of postage we have already quoted will show that it was generally necessary to give them in two forms, "currency" and "sterling." The somewhat depreciated Canadian currency required fifteen pence, as will be noted, to equal the shilling sterling—a point that is brought out on the two stamps issued subsequently for the British Packet rates. Add to this the fact that in New England the "shilling" was a current expression for 16⅔ cents (10 pence currency), while in New York it represented 12½ cents (7½ pence currency) and we can readily see that in Canadian territory contiguous to these sections the number of pence to a "shilling" might often be a debatable quantity. As a matter of fact the French Canadians of Lower Canada made general use of the "shilling" as reckoned at 10 pence (20 cents) in the old currency, while the "York shilling" was extensively used in Upper Canada.[11] "Twelve pence" was without doubt wholly intentional, therefore, as the designation of the stamp, and was a happy solution of any ambiguity in its use, even if it has proved a stumbling block to the understanding of latter day collectors.

An interesting essay for this stamp is in existence, being a companion for the 3 pence "beaver," inasmuch as the shape of the stamp and the central design are the same, though on a larger scale; the inscriptions, however, are

on an octagonal frame around the picture instead of an elliptical one, and the value is expressed as "one shilling," with "1s" in each spandrel. It was doubtless also a conception of Sir Sanford Fleming, the designer of the 3 pence, and it would be interesting to know what the companion 6 pence may have been.

The three issued stamps were ordered from and engraved on steel by Messrs. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson of New York, who, it will be interesting to note, were the engravers of the 1847 issue of United States stamps—a fact which very likely may have had its influence on the Canadian authorities. The stamps were printed in sheets of 100, ten rows of ten, and had eight marginal imprints, two on each side. The imprint reads, "Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York.", in minute letters of the size known as "diamond" in the printing office, and it is placed opposite the third and eighth stamps of the horizontal or vertical row, as the case may be, but always with the bottom of the imprint next the stamps. This causes the imprints to read up on the left, down on the right, and upside down on the bottom margins of the sheets.