MA's Stamp Album

Canada - 1882

From The Postage Stamps and Postal History of Canada, Winthrop S. Boggs, 1974, Quartermam Publications, Inc., Chap. XII

The Small Queen Designs of 1870-93

The handsome design of the large Queen's head began to be superseded by similar but smaller designs in January, 1870. There was no official notification of the new design, but it was decided about a year after the issue of the 1868 series as is evident from the fact that the stamp magazines of the day were anticipating the change in August 1869 (American Journal of Philately, Vol. II, August 20, 1869), and we quote: "Canada is shortly to have a new set of stamps. It seems they are about to alter their stamps to make them smaller, so as to save paper. The head will still remain the same as now, but the frame and margin around the head will be considerably less."

The forecast proved to be substantially correct, although the head is also reduced in size and the reason for the change was not correctly divined,

...the reason for the reduction in size was primarily the practical problem of more stamps, more quickly, and at little extra expense. ...the volume of stamps required increased due to the compulsory prepayment of postage from Oct. 1, 1875...

The new designs (of 1870) were all of the same size, that is 17 x 21 mm, the same as the half cent of 1868. In 1882 the diminutive half cent appeared which measures 15 x 18 1/4 mm.

The Montreal Printings 1874-87
The British-American Bank Note Co. in the latter part of 1874 (Sept. or Oct.) moved all their Ottawa establishment to Montreal, and from that date until the end of 1887 did all their work at the latter city. ...and plates made after 1874 bear a new imprint, "British American Bank Note Co., Montreal".

These stamps were produced under the terms of the original 1867 contract, that is at 25c per thousand.

Three new denominations, 1/2c, 5c, and 10c, were introduced, as well as a new class, Registered Letter Stamps, and the Officially Sealed Label also made their appearance during this period.

The position dot is usually discernable at the lower left corner of all stamps except those from the extreme left vertical row of the sheet. Example (1c large Queen) "shows typical position dots at U.L., U.R. and L.L., on clearly printed copies".

From Canada's Postage Stamps, Douglas and Mary Patrick, 1964, McClelland and Stewart Limited, pages 31-32

Posrtal officials considered the 1/2-cent stamp desirable because of its special purpose of paying the single periodical rate. Smaller in size than the other denominations of this series, a new 1/2-cent stamp was issued in July, 1882.
design Similar to 1-cent orange-yellow of this series.
issued About 12th July, 1882.
received
1882 406,700 1890 525,000
1883 682,000 1891 525,000
1884 650,000 1892 900,000
1885 450,000 1893 650,000
1886 500,000 1894 950,000
1887 500,000 1895 800,000
1888 575,000 1896 850,000
1889 475,000 1897 1,024,600
Total 10,463,300

Note by MA
While other stamps in the series have up to 25 plates, 2 types of paper, 2 sizes of perforations and 2 types of gum, the 1/2c stamp has none of this variety: PLATES - only one, made in 1882; PAPER - Medium to thick (.0033" to .0038"), poor quality white or grayish wove, faint to strong mesh, sometimes showing distinct quadrille ribbing; PERFORATIONS - 12 x 12 (11 3/4 - 12 x 11 3/4 - 12): GUM - Streaky, brownish.