Canada's ˝˘ Small Queen had Multiple Uses
by John Burnett (EPH1)
Originally published in Linns Stamp News
Similar in design but markedly smaller than the stamps that preceded them the small queen stamps were introduced to help reduce printing costs during a period of recession in Canada.
The smallest of the small queen stamps, the ˝˘ black low value, is shown in figure 1.
Figure 1 - Canada's ˝˘ black small queen of 1882.
The ˝˘ small queen (Scott and Canada Specialized 34) came into existence in July 1882, although no dated covers are known to exist before 1883. The ˝˘ small queen superseded the ˝˘ large queen (Scott and Canada Specialized 21) when plates used to print the latter began to wear out.
The diminutive stamp is physically smaller than all the other small queen stamps, measuring approximately 17mm x 20mm as compared to approximately 20mm x 25mm for all the other small queens.
The ˝˘ stamp is available in a number of shades from jet black down into the gray black and intense grays. You can also find the stamp printed on thick white paper. Pre-canceled ˝˘ small queens are also known.
In addition the ˝˘ small queen exists in imperforate multiples and in pairs, and imperforate between, both horizontal and vertical. The˝˘ imperforate errors can get to be a little expensive, as they were generally printed in limited quantities and by favor.
The basic ˝˘ stamps were printed in sheets of 200, consisting of two panes of 100 that were divided by a vertical gutter. In spite of this blocks and pairs of the stamp showing the gutter are known to exist, having slipped through the system.
Figure 2 - A cross gutter block eight of the ˝˘ small queen.
Three covers have been reported that have a gutter pair of the ˝˘ small queen. Shown in figure 3 is one of the three covers. The ˝˘ gutter pair has been used as a "make up" for the rate with two 1˘ small queen stamps
Figure 3 - A gutter pair of the ˝˘ used with two 1˘ small queens to pay first class postage to Emerson Manitoba from Berlin, Ontario June 27, 1895.
All four stamps on this cover are neatly cancelled with a Berlin, Ontario duplex cancellation.
One of the very hard things to find out about Victorian - era Canadian postal history is the rates that the various stamps were intended to pay. In this regard, the ˝˘ small queen served a variety of roles.
To begin with, the ˝˘ small queen paid the rate for an unsealed envelope sent in Canada. Figure 4 shows such a cover to Liverpool, Nova Scotia. The cover does not have a readable cancel, for at the ˝˘ rate the stamp was only obliterated or "killed" and not eligible to be canceled with a dated postmark (not unlike we see today on our junk mail).
Rarely will you see a ˝˘ small queen postally used with a readable cancel, unless it simply happened to be convenient for the postal clerk to apply one.
Figure 4 - Canceled with a mute barred obliterator, a ˝˘ small queen paid the unsealed envelope rate on this cover to Liverpool Nova Scotia, a typical usage for this stamp.
Another designated rate for this stamp was to pay for a newspaper or periodical being sent through the mails.
Figure 5 shows a wrapper for a periodical franked with the stamp. This wrapper is simply hand stamp-addressed to the "Massey - Harris Co., City". This is what is commonly known as a drop letter, having been delivered within the area of the city in which it was mailed.
Figure 5 - Delivered within the city from which it was mailed as a so called drop letter this newspaper or periodical wrapper also is correctly franked with a ˝˘ small queen.
One of the more difficult ˝˘ small queen usages to find is the unaddressed circular or, as it was commonly known the "to every house hold" rate.
This was a mailing sent out without an address, and needing none, as it was to be delivered to every household within the area of a given post office.
Figure 6 shows a particularly nice example of a to every household rate piece, consisting of an advertising post card with a reply card attached on the other side. This St. John New Brunswick, post card has a very nice printed advertisement on the back that explains the value of Ira Cornwall Bearings.
Figure 6 - A neatly canceled ˝˘ small queen pays the unaddressed circular rate (also known as to every householder rate).
A much more common use of the "to every household" rate was to send election circulars to all homes within a political district.
Of course, as might be expected, the ˝˘small queen also was frequently and liberally used in multiples to help make up rates that this low value was never intended to pay.
Figure 7 shows a most spectacular cover, a registered 1˘ stamped envelope to the Latvian capital of Riga, then in Imperial Russia.
Figure 7 - No fewer than 18 ˝˘ small queens pay the postage and fee on this 1894 registered 1˘ stamped envelope to the Latvian capital of Riga, then part of Russia.
The cover in Figure 7 is franked with 18 ˝˘ small queens totaling 9˘. Combined with the 1˘ postal value of the stamped envelope itself, the ˝˘ stamps on this 1894 cover paid 5˘ postage to Russia and the 5˘ registration fee. Its unusual foreign destination on the Baltic Sea makes this cover even more alluring.
Many multiples of the ˝˘ small queen exist on covers at a wide variety of different rates. These can add significantly to your collection, and the possibilities are almost unlimited.
The ˝˘ small queen is just one stamp, and a very small one at that. But it too, is yet another example of how a subject that starts small can grow into a fine collection.
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