The stamps of Canada are among the most popularly collected stamps anywhere in the world. Their designs have been chosen with near-uniform excellence, and their execution as a printed product is first rate. Canadian stamps up until World War II were all engraved, and have been designed and printed by the best bank-note-printing firms in the world.
The first Canadian postage stamps were issued in 1851. They were printed by the New York printing firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, who were also at the time printing the United States postage stamps. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson were about the most advanced printers of their time, and had been used before by the Canadian government to print debentures. Three stamps were contracted for: a three-penny stamp, picturing a Canadian beaver; a six-penny stamp, showing Prince Albert, the Royal Consort; and a twelve-penny stamp, showing Queen Victoria in black. There was criticism of the designs and the printing of the first stamps; the twelve-penny stamps were especially disliked, and their high face value was rarely called for. Accordingly, today this is one of the world’s great rarities. Only 41,000 were printed and delivered to the Canadian postal authorities; and of these, only 1,510 were sent to post offices. Even less were sold.
The 1851 issue, as it is listed in the catalogue, was printed on laid paper (See page 28). This is the major difference between the 1851 issue and the 1852 issue, which was printed on wove paper. The laid lines in the paper of this 1851 issue are extremely difficult to see, and even experts must resort occasionally to determining which set is which by shade of color alone. The 1851 issue was generally cancelled with a cancellation of concentric circles around a point, called by philatelists a target cancel.
The use of laid paper did not last long. Laid paper often does not take a design well in printing, primarily because of the variance of thickness in the paper. The stamps tend to print very lightly, and this was especially true of the twelve penny. Furthermore, the problems caused by laid paper extend to the adhesive as well. The 1851 Canada issue was roundly criticized for not sticking to letters when moistened. The first three-penny stamps on wove paper (#4) were delivered to the Canadian postal authorities in April 1852. This stamp is considered a highly specialized field of its own by some students of Canadian philately. They identify no less than five distinct paper varieties, including three types of handmade paper and two types of machine-made paper that came into use in 1857. Most Canadian collectors gladly content themselves with one example of the stamp.
Between early 1855 and mid-1857, rate changes forced the issuance of three additional stamps. The ten pence show Jacques Cartier, and is in a lovely dark blue color; it was for use on letters going by British packet to Europe. The 6 and a half pence sterling, 7 and a half pence currency stamp is one of the first, and indeed along with the ten penny mentioned above, one of the only stamps to accommodate monetary difference within the wording of the stamp. The rate it paid could be paid either way, in currency or sterling. This stamp used the same design as the twelve-penny stamp that is so rare. The one-half-penny stamp is in a dreary shade of lilac and was mused primarily on newspaper wrappers. Because of this, it is exceptionally scarce in perfect condition. Stamps on newspaper wrappers were often used to reinforce the seal on the wrapper on the paper and thus were ripped in two when the paper was received.
By November 1854, the Canadian Post Office had heard of the great revolution in stamp production that had just occurred in England: a perforating machine had been invented, and stamps now came with little holes in them so that they did not have to be cut from the sheet. The Canadian Post Office authorities wrote to their stamp printer, Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, about incorporating this advance on future Canadian postage stamps. They received back a tart note saying that such a request was impossible. And indeed it was– the only perforating machines were in London. Technicians on the other side of the Atlantic could only guess at how it worked. By 1858, the Canadian postal authorities were finally informed that a perforating machine could be obtained. Shortly afterwards, at an additional charge of 5 cents per 1,000 stamps, perforated stamps were supplied. The early perforating machines were extremely primitive, consisting of perforation rows running in one direction through which the sheet of stamps had to be run twice, once for the vertical rows and a second time for the horizontal. The space adjustments for the rows, as the Canadian stamps were not square, had to be altered with each run through the machine. Knowing this, it is amazing that we find any well-centered examples of the first perforated issue of 1858 at all. But we don’t see many. The perforated pence issues are the half penny, three penny, and six penny.