Note by Mr. T. K. Tapling, M.P.—In The Stamp Collector’s Magazine, vol. x. p. 105, will be found an amended notice relating to the values constituting the above issue. Among them is catalogued a Ten Cents on the authority of The American Journal of Philately. Some discussion arose subsequently as to the authenticity of this value, but the mystery attaching to it seems never to have been wholly cleared up. Very few specimens were seen, and these appear to have been obtained by M. Moens from what he considered a thoroughly satisfactory source. Much doubt has been thrown upon the stamp by English writers; but a few weeks since I was shown a specimen in Mr. Pearson Hill’s collection, which he told me had been there over seventeen years. Mr. Hill’s connection with our General Post Office enabled him to get nearly all his stamps direct from Foreign and Colonial Governments, and his impression is that this stamp reached him in the same way. It is similar in design to the Three Pence of the first issue, of which it is apparently a copy, though the details are rather larger and the general appearance rougher. It is a companion in style and execution to the issue of which it is supposed to form a part, and the perforation (machine 12) is identical. The colour is dull mauve. It is possible that the stamp was prepared and never issued, though even in this case Mr. Hill might quite well have had a specimen sent him with the others by the Prince Edward Island Government; but if it was merely a fraudulent speculation it seems strange that copies are, and always have been, exceedingly uncommon. I venture no definite opinion either one way or the other, and hope this short note may draw an answer from some one qualified to speak with certainty.
ADDENDA.
Since the Catalogue was printed, the members of the Committee entrusted with its publication have had the opportunity of consulting The Halifax Philatelist for the current year (1889), the numbers of which had not previously been seen by them.
The May number contains a copy of a recently-published Canadian postal notice, referring to certain alterations in the rates, &c.; and in the numbers for January and February Mr. Donald A. King has two further papers upon the stamps of Nova Scotia; while the April number contains a letter from a correspondent upon the bisected stamp of New Brunswick. The Committee consider it advisable to reproduce here all the four articles mentioned, feeling sure their contents will be of interest to philatelists, and help to add further to the completeness of the postal history of each of the provinces.
CANADA.
“The Canada Two Cent Registration Stamp will soon be a thing of the past. The following is the official order in connection with it:
“‘NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC.
“‘Changes in Postage Rates under Authority of Post Office Act, 1889.