“General Post Office, Charlottetown, 30th May, 1870.”

The first of these two notices gives us the approximate date and cause of issue of the Three Pence sterling (4½d. currency), brown stamp. It is possible the stamp was not ready for issue on June 1st, as Mr. Tapling’s collection contains a copy of the Nine Pence cut in half and used as 4½d. This variety is said to have been taken off a letter sent to England in 1870, so it is possible the Nine Pence was bisected and used provisionally previous to the issue of the brown stamp. If this was so, and the new stamp was not ready at the alteration of the rate, the issue no doubt took place shortly afterwards. This Four Pence Halfpenny stamp was engraved by the British American Bank Note Co., of Montreal and Ottawa; the earlier stamps of the Colony being produced by Charles Whiting, printer, of Beaufort House, Strand, London. It was this Mr. Whiting who sent in so many essays and suggestions to the Government previous to the introduction of postage stamps in Great Britain. As collectors know, many of these designs are beautiful works of art compared with the mean engraving of the stamps of Prince Edward Island, but perhaps the price offered for the stamps at the time they were ordered had a good deal to do with their poor workmanship.

In 1871 an Act was passed to establish a decimal system of currency in the Island, which came into operation on January 4th, 1872. I have found no notice in The Gazette of the issue of the set of stamps with the values in cents, but if they were not issued on the same day as the above Act became law, they came into use shortly afterwards. The stamps of this Colony were withdrawn from use on July 1st, 1873—the date the Island was admitted into the Dominion of Canada.

REFERENCE LIST OF THE PHILATELIC SOCIETY, LONDON.

Issue I. January 1st, 1861.

Five values. Lithographed (?) and printed by Mr. Chas. Whiting, of London, upon medium white wove unwatermarked paper (that used for the stamps first issued being yellowish in tone); white gum. The entire sheet of each value contains thirty stamps arranged in six horizontal rows of five, excepting the Two Pence, which has sixty in six horizontal rows of ten. Designs: The same diademed profile of Queen Victoria to left does duty for all five stamps, and the inscriptions are all in white block letters. The One Penny has the head upon a reticulated background, enclosed within a band of solid colour, which touches the four sides of the stamp, and is curved at the four corners. The band is inscribed at the left top and right side with the name of the Colony and the word “POSTAGE,” and at the bottom with the value in words. The four corners of the stamp contain small conventional ornaments, and an outer line of colour completes the design. Two Pence.—The head of Her Majesty rests upon a reticulated background of a different pattern to that of the One Penny, and is enclosed within a circular band of solid colour, inscribed with the name of the Colony above and “POSTAGE” below. Straight label of solid colour at the bottom of the stamp, with the value in full. The spandrels are filled in with reticulations of the same pattern as the One Penny, and the design is completed by a single outer coloured line. The Three Pence is precisely similar to the Two Pence, but the Queen’s head is contained within an upright oval band. The Six Pence is also similar to the Two Pence, excepting that the head is enclosed within an octagonal band. The Nine Pence has Her Majesty’s head upon a similar background to the One Penny, but enclosed within a ribbon-like band of solid colour, inscribed with the name of the Colony and the word “POSTAGE.” The hand is impinged upon at the bottom by a broad straight label of solid colour, inscribed in three lines “NINE PENCE CURRENCY—EQUAL TO—SIXPENCE STG.,” the first line being curved. Conventional ornaments in the upper corners, and a plain outer line of colour completes the design. Shape, upright rectangular. The One Penny and Nine Pence were not issued with the other three values, and probably did not come into use until the year 1865. ([Illustrations 96, 97, 98, 99, 100.])

(A) Perforated 9. (January 1st, 1861).

Varieties.—Divided in two, diagonally, and used for half the values.