Of course the desideratum for the settlement of the whole question is to
find a copy of the stamp used on cover; but inasmuch as up to the present time but three copies of the 12d. on laid paper are known in this condition, it seems a hopeless quest. Nevertheless there appear to be several used copies of the wove paper 12d. known, the first mention we find of one being in the report of the proceedings of the Philatelic Society of London for 4th May, 1888,[18] which reads: "The business of the evening consisted in the revision of the Society's reference list of the Stamps of Canada, which was concluded, Mr. F. Ransom showing an undoubted postmarked specimen of the 12d. first issue, printed upon stout wove paper." Mr. W. H. Brouse, the eminent Canadian philatelist, also possessed a cancelled copy of this stamp, which later adorned the Ayer collection, it is understood. An editorial in the Dominion Philatelist thus speaks of it:[19]—"We have received from W. H. Brouse, of Toronto, a photograph of ... 12 pence Canada on wove paper [which] appears to be a beautiful specimen with fine margin and light cancellation." Two fine copies, one unused and one used, were sold in the auction of the Mirabaud collection at Paris, in April, 1909.
From the above it is plainly evident that the 12d. on wove paper properly exists, in spite of the "first [and only] printing on laid paper" theory, which is usually laid down as an a priori consideration. Also it appears that it is found in a used condition, though this cannot be taken as an absolute test, because of the uncertainty that may lurk in a cancellation on a detached specimen of a stamp. Only the discovery of a copy properly used on the original cover, as already intimated, can effectually settle the question of its actual issue and use. But there is a fact which doubtless furnishes the clue to the seeming mystery of its being. We have already noted that the laid paper first used varied considerably in thickness, and also that the wove paper next used was in all respects similar to the former, but of course without the laid lines. Now it happens sometimes that it is quite difficult to distinguish the laid paper, a very careful scrutiny or even the extreme resort to the benzine cup being necessary to bring out the watermarked lines, and perhaps then only in a half suspicious way. If such be the case, it is only a step further to the entire disappearance of these "laid lines," and lo, the wove paper!
Writing to Mr. F. C. Young concerning the 12d. stamp, Mr. John N. Luff says:[20]—"It is my opinion that both the wove and laid papers are quite
genuine and I think it is possible that both varieties might occur though there was only one lot sent out by the printers. It does not, of course, follow that the entire batch was printed on the same day or that two varieties of paper might not have been used. The early printers were not always very particular about their paper, provided it was somewhat alike in a general way. Some collectors claim that laid paper is often of such nature that the lines do not show in some parts of the sheet, and I believe there is evidence to support this theory." Finally Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack, in some notes sent the London Philatelist, sums matters up in these words:[21]—"After a very careful investigation I believe that the 12d., on wove paper, was issued, and that the stamp was on sale at the Post Office, in Hamilton, Canada West." Mr. Pack writes us further:—"When I was a boy I went to school at St. Catherines, Ontario. There were keen stamp collectors in St. Catherines at that time, not only among boys, but among grown people. That was about 1869 or 1870. I was told that part of the 12d. Canada which had been on sale at the Hamilton post office were on wove paper and I was convinced that that was the case."
Concerning the laid and wove papers of this issue Mr. King writes as follows:[22]—"The texture of these papers is virtually the same, and it is indeed often difficult, particularly in the case of the 6d., to distinguish between the laid and wove papers. The lines in the laid paper are of a most peculiar character, and cannot, as a rule, be brought fairly out by holding the stamp between one's eyes and the light. The best way to test these two papers is to lay the stamps, face down, on a black surface, and let the light strike them at about an angle of fifteen degrees, when the laid lines are brought most plainly into view. It is necessary, however, to place the specimens so that the light will strike them parallel to their length, as the laid lines run horizontally in the 3d., and vertically in the 6d. and 12d."
We now come to the most interesting and confirmatory part of our evidence. We have already referred to the fact that Messrs. Corwin & King give June, 1852, as the date when the wove paper appeared, and 1852 is given in all catalogues and lists as the year of issue for all three stamps on this paper. In their article on British North America, the above gentlemen, in discussing early dates established by entire covers for the varieties of paper that they describe, remark under the caption "Series IV." (the thin wove paper): "We took a six-pence from a letter dated June 25th, 1852."[23] This statement can
hardly be questioned, after the careful and minute study that they gave to the papers of this issue, and it therefore means just one thing: the 6d. on wove paper came in the first lot delivered, for we have seen that the second supply did not arrive until 1855. The fact is therefore established that the first deliveries of stamps in April and May, 1851, included the wove paper, and we therefore have here what amounts to the proper credentials for the appearance and even use of the 12d. on wove paper.
As the 3d., having been delivered first, was undoubtedly printed first, this value may have been entirely upon the laid paper, particularly as it seems to be not especially rare on this paper and has not been recorded on wove paper used earlier than the receipt of the 1852 supplies. But this of course is negative evidence, and this value may yet be found to have been printed upon the wove paper along with the other two values in 1851.