Postage Stamp Articles : History Behind The Postage Stamps Of Canada by Frank Vanderlugt

Introduction

The discovery of Canadian stamps in 1851 brought a drastic change in the economy of Canada. The first Canadian stamp exhibits a picture of a "Beaver" which was designed by Sir Sandford Fleming. The cost of the stamps was used to vary from half a penny to twelve pence.

The old stamps were present without any perforations but later, the stamps were provided with perforations so that they can be easily separated out from a sheet of 100 stamps. These stamps were generally used in the provinces like Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and in the northern territories.

After the discovery of stamps, Canada started using its own currency that is dollars and cents instead of the currency of British. Therefore, the prices of the stamps also got changed accordingly.

It has been seen that the pictures of the King or Queen of England are often seen over the stamps of Canada because of its good relations with England. Not only this, they are also famous for the display of beautiful pictures of wildlife and landscapes of Canada over them.

Postal History Of Canada The various researches and studies have shown that the postal history of Canada is segmented in four major epochs in the following manner:

1. French Control: This period lasts from 1608 till 1763 which began with the dispatching of couriers and letters by the means of boat. In 1734, a proper postal system was established when a road was built between the two major territories of Montreal and Quebec. The post houses were constructed at a distance of 14 km.

2. British Control: The period of British control lasts from 1763 to 1851. Its control came over with the capturing of Montreal in 1760 and led to the establishment of military postal system in order to start up the postal services from Quebec to Montreal and from Montreal to Albany. It also gave rise to the development of civilian post. This period led to the introduction of a complicated structure of rates of mail which is dependent upon the distance to reach the destination.

3. Provincial Control: The control of the province over the postal services began from 1851 to 1868. It was in this period when the first stamp of Canada was designed in the values of 3d, 6d, and 12d. Out of which the 6d comprises of a picture of Prince Albert, whereas the 12d exhibited the portrait of Queen Victoria. But the change was observed in the late 1850s with the eruption of new values of ½d, 7½d, and 10d in which the first two values were exhibiting Victoria and the last one was depicting Jacques Cartier.

4. Dominion of Canada: It came into existence in 1867 and is still prevalent in Canada, which led to a new series of stamps depicting a profile of Queen Victoria. The range of these new stamps was from ½¢ to 15¢ out of which most of them were designed over the wove paper and some were printed over the laid paper. The establishment of the American Bank Note Company in 1897 set up a contract of printing the stamps and this contract lasted till 1923. The design and value of the stamps kept on changing because of the certain issues like Maple Leaf Issue, Scroll Issue, Arch Issue, etc.

About the Author
frank j vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.Postage-stamps-2007.com Postage Stamps

Source: Postage Stamp articles at GoArticles.com