angles.
In the following month the 2c was chronicled, its color being given as
"a delicate chrome-green." The design differs from the 3c and 6c chiefly
in the direction of the curve of the word CENTS, which is reversed, as
compared with those denominations, and much less pronounced.
The 10c was the next value to appear and it was not on sale until quite
late in 1874, probably about November 1st. The design follows the
general effect of the 2c but at the same time illustrates a new
departure, inasmuch as the numerals of value are repeated in the upper
corners in a smaller form. For what particular purpose this value was
intended is not clear for there was, apparently, no regular rate at that
time which required such a denomination.
The next value placed on sale was the 5c, which was issued in February,
1876, and superseded the large 5c design after it had been in use for
only about four months. Though the portrait is the same as that on the
other values the frame is of a distinctly different style and CENTS is
in much larger letters than before, showing that the previous values,
following as they do a general pattern, were engraved much about the
same time though many years elapsed before all were actually in use.
[Illustration]
Finally in July, 1882, the 1/2c value appeared and was recorded in the
_Philatelic Record_ for July of that year in the following words:--
That "history repeats itself" is a proverb that is curiously
illustrated by the latest issue of this colony. We all remember
that in 1868 a 1/2c stamp of smaller size than the other values of
the series was emitted. A few years later, some say for economical
reasons, the other values were reduced to the smaller size.
Recently it seems to have struck the Canadian authorities that
their idea of fourteen years ago was a happy one, and the 1/2c has
been proportionately cut down. The general arrangements of the
design remain the same, but the ornamentation is simpler. The head
and circle containing it are miniatures of the former, and the
result is what the ladies would call "a dear little stamp," about
the size of our lately defunct "Halfpenny," but an upright instead
of an oblong rectangle. We trust the price of paper will not again
cause a general reduction; for if the Canadian stamps go on growing
"small by degrees, and beautifully less," they will in time become
too m
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