We have remarked that there were but three covers known bearing copies of the 12d. stamp. It is with great satisfaction, therefore, that we are able to present reproductions of two of them for the benefit of our readers. The earliest date is on the cover numbered 90 on [Plate VI], which is in the Worthington collection. This bears the postmark of "Montreal, L. C. JY 21, 1852" in red. The stamp is a little heavily cancelled by the concentric rings type of obliteration in black. The word CANADA within the curved frame and the word PAID are stamped in red on the cover. This was a requirement of the first postal convention between Canada and the United States, signed on March 25, 1851. Section 9 reads:—
"The Offices designated for the despatch and receipt of Canadian Mails on the side of the United States will stamp 'U. States' upon all letters sent into Canada for delivery; and the Offices designated for the despatch and receipt of United States mails on the side of Canada will stamp 'Canada' upon all letters sent into the United States for delivery."
The other two covers were both the property of the late John F. Seybold, but the one upon which the stamp appears in finest condition now ornaments the collection of Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack. This is illustrated as No. 91 on [Plate VI] and bears the postmark of "Hamilton, C. W. NO 23, 1853." The stamp is cancelled with the concentric rings in blue, and an additional handstamp appears in red reading "CANADA—PAID 20 Cts" in two lines. The "20" is made over from "10" by the use of a pen in changing the first figure. In
this connection it will be remembered that 6d. currency, equal to 10 cents, was the single rate for ½oz. letters between Canada and the United States.[24]
The third cover is in all respects a companion piece of the second, bearing the same marks and (probably) the same address originally, but dated from Hamilton on "DE 8, 1853."
All three of these covers show the particular use of the 12d. stamp—simply as a multiple of the 3d. and 6d. in currency rates. That it was not issued with any intention of being especially used for the British packet rate must be evident, as we have seen that this was 1s. 4d. currency if prepaid and sent via the United States, or 1s. 1½d. currency if prepaid and sent via Halifax[25]—rates that could not be made up by means of the three stamps first issued.
On the other hand the stamp was quadruple the domestic rate, double the rate to the United States, and the single rate for the fortnightly mails from Montreal viâ Boston to Newfoundland, Bermuda and the British West Indies.[26] Probably letters in the first category were not common, and, as it happens, all our specimens fall in the second. The third category doubtless did not entail a large correspondence, particularly as the more direct route to the places mentioned, viâ Quebec and Halifax, was at the lesser rate of 7½d.[27] For the above reasons, then, the covers as we find them evidently exemplify the usual use to which the 12d. stamp was put, and explain why more were not used, as surely would have been the case had the stamp been convenient for prepaying the packet rate to England, with which there was a large correspondence.
Having now described the two main varieties of paper common to the three values of this issue, let us look at some further varieties of the stock used for the 3d. and 6d. values, which, because of their long term of use, were subject to quite a number of printings and therefore gave opportunity for the variation in paper which is a characteristic of this issue. We have already given the statistics of the receipt and issue of 3d. and 6d. stamps for the five years from 1851 to 1856,[28] and find they total 1,600,500 for the 3d. and 150,400 for the 6d. From succeeding reports of the Postmaster General we cull the following:—