NOTE.—On May 4, 1851, the first and only consignment of the Canada 1 shilling postage stamp, to the number of 51,000 (value £2,550), was received by the Post Office Department, Canada, from the Contractors, Messrs. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York.
The issue of this stamp began on June 14, 1851, and concluded on December 4, 1854, when the stamp was discontinued. During its issue 1510 stamps of that denomination were sent out to postmasters, leaving a balance on hand of 49,490, which, on May 1st. 1857, were, in accordance with the practice of the Department in cases of the discontinuance of stamps, destroyed. As has already been observed, there was only the one lot of this stamp received from the contractors.
DETAILS OF ISSUE.
| Date of Issue. | Name of Office. | Name of P. M. | No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 14, 1851 | Hamilton | E. Ritchie | 300 |
| Oct. 17, 1851 | Chippewa | W. Hepburn | 100 |
| Nov. 13, 1851 | Thorold | J. Keefer | 20 |
| Nov. 25, 1851 | Toronto | C. Berchy | 200 |
| Mar. 8, 1852 | Montreal | J. Porteous | 200 |
| Sept. 14, 1852 | Ingersoll | D. Phelan | 100 |
| Apr. 5, 1853 | [15]Bytown | G. W. Baker | 100 |
| Oct. 20, 1853 | Sherbrooke | Wm. Brooks | 15 |
| Jan. 13, 1854 | Smith's Falls | Jas. Shaw | 50 |
| Jan. 20, 1854 | Bytown | G. W. Baker | 100 |
| Feb. 8, 1854 | L'Islet | Ballantyne | 15 |
| Feb. 27, 1854 | Ingersoll | Chadwick | 20 |
| Mar. 22, 1854 | Sault S. Marie | Jos. Wilson | 25 |
| May 15, 1854 | Port. du Fort | McLaren | 15 |
| Oct. 21, 1854 | Rowan Mills | de Blaquiere | 50 |
| Oct. 26, 1854 | Melbourne | Thos. Tait | 50 |
| Oct. 27, 1854 | Montreal | A. La Rocque | 100 |
| Dec. 4, 1854 | Smith's Falls | Jas. Shaw | 50 |
| Total number issued, | 1,510 | ||
From the above it is seen that Hamilton and Montreal each received a total of 300 copies, Toronto and Bytown each 200, Ingersoll 120, Chippewa and Smith's Falls each 100, and so on down.
So much for the 12d. stamp. The tables of the Post Office reports tell us also that the issues of the 6d. stamp to postmasters for these same four years totalled 102,600, or only 2200 more than the original number delivered, the second delivery of the 6d. not having taken place until March 21, 1855,[16] at the end of the last fiscal year of the four. If, then, the entire first printings of the 6d. and 12d. stamps were on laid paper, as is usually claimed, there would be no such thing as a 12d. on wove paper, and the 6d. stamp in the same state would not be found used (provided proper postmark evidence were forthcoming) before the end of March, 1855. During the same period there were at least five deliveries of the 3d. stamp, so that several things may have happened to that value. But, curiously enough, it is the other two stamps that furnish us with our best evidence.
We now come literally to the "nigger in the wood-pile." The 12d. stamp does exist on the wove paper! Mr. Worthington and Mr. Pack each possess an unused copy, and careful examination by the writer has failed to disclose any appreciable difference in the color, quality or appearance of the paper, save for the impossibility of discovering the laid lines, between these copies and those possessing proper credentials as the regular laid paper 12d. of 1851. The color of the stamp and its general appearance give no hint of the supposed irregularity, and a letter to Mr. Worthington from the well known expert, Mr. John N. Luff, gives his approval to the specimen in Mr. Worthington's collection. It was formerly considered that the supposed 12d. on wove paper was merely a proof, and in the "Catalogue for Advanced Collectors" we find the following note concerning it under Canada.[17]
Although the 12p is catalogued by some as existing on thin wove paper, we do not believe in it as in every copy on wove paper sent to us for examination some traces of the word specimen were to be discovered thus showing them all to be merely proofs.
As far as the writer has seen them, specimen copies have been on India paper, which is quite distinct from the regular paper of the issue, and they have been overprinted with the word "SPECIMEN" in carmine ink, either diagonally or vertically upward. The copies referred to in the paragraph just quoted probably had been treated with chemicals to remove the red ink overprint.