Part 11 (2/2)
150,000 10c ”
100,000 15c ”
100,000 20c ”
100,000 50c ”
25,000 $1 ”
25,000 $2 ”
25,000 $3 ”
25,000 $4 ”
25,000 $5 ”
7,000,000 1c postcards.
Total value of one stamp of each kind $16.21-1/2.
As soon as the total number of stamps mentioned in said schedule is issued the plates from which they will have been engraved will be destroyed in the presence of the head and two officers of the department. On the 10th of June the Post Office Department will proceed to supply Jubilee postage stamps to the princ.i.p.al post-offices in Canada, and through them minor post offices will obtain their supply until the issue is exhausted. If this Jubilee issue were to wholly displace the ordinary postage stamps it would supply the ordinary wants of the country for between two and three months, but as the use of the ordinary postage stamps will proceed concurrently with that of the Jubilee stamps, it is expected that the Jubilee stamps will last beyond the three months. Inasmuch as the department is already receiving applications for the purchase of Jubilee stamps, it may be stated that the department will adhere to the established practice of supplying them only to postmasters, and through them to the public, who may purchase them on and after the 19th June, 1897.
It will be noted that the Post-Office Department made no pretense about the matter but stated quite candidly that the issue would be limited and before very long, by means of different official notices and communications it was made quite plain that the issue was intended to _sell_ and that restrictions would be placed on the scale of the more desirable values, which were issued in but small quant.i.ties. With the first supply of these stamps sent to postmasters the following circular was sent:--
N. B.--Requisitions for _full sets_ of the Jubilee stamps will be filled until the issue is exhausted.--E. P. S.
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA, POSTAGE STAMP BRANCH, OTTAWA, _June, 1897._
Sir:--I am directed by the Postmaster-General to send you herewith a supply of the Jubilee stamps and 1c post card, equal to one month's ordinary requirements of your office. Should this quant.i.ty prove insufficient it will, on your requisition addressed to this branch, be supplemented; but as the Jubilee issue is limited, it would be necessary for you to apply early in order to secure further supplies of the same.
I am also to instruct you not to sell any of the accompanying stamps or postcards before the opening of your office at the regular office hours on the 19th June instant--the eve of the anniversary they are intended to commemorate.
These stamps and cards are, of course, like the ordinary issues, to be sold at face value.
I am, Sir, Your Obedient Servant E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent._
P. S.--As there appears to be a somewhat general desire on the part of many persons to purchase, for souvenir purposes, complete sets of the Jubilee stamps, it is hoped that you will so manage the sale of such stamps that persons applying to purchase full sets may be able to get them.--E. P. S.
The stamps were placed on sale throughout the Dominion on the morning of Sat.u.r.day, the 19th of June the eve of Jubilee day proper. Naturally there was a big rush on the part of the public to obtain specimens of the much heralded stamps and in the larger centres the post offices were literally besieged. Speculators tried to corner the 1/2c and 6c denominations, which advance particulars had shown to be the most desirable of the lower values, but the stamps were doled out carefully and large orders were promptly and firmly refused. But though care was exercised the department was convinced, from the result of the first day's sale, that steps would have to be taken to further restrict the sale of the desirable denominations. The demand for the stamps at the chief office was so great that a circular letter was prepared to be despatched to applicants, this reading as follows:--
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, CANADA, POSTAGE STAMP BRANCH, OTTAWA, _26th June, 1897._
Sir,--With reference to the numerous demands upon this office for the 1/2c and 6c Jubilee stamps, I am directed to explain that the respective quant.i.ties of Jubilee stamps ordered bear, relatively, the same proportions to the actual requirements of the Postal Service, but the tendency to exhaust the HALVES and SIXES has increased to such a degree, that it has become necessary to restrict their sale to the purchasers of full sets. Hence I am to express the Postmaster-General's regret that he is unable, having regard to the limited character of the Jubilee issue, to comply with any requests for the 1/2c or 6c denomination, apart from those for full sets. These sets may be obtained as long as the series of Jubilee stamps last, but as the demands upon it are unusually heavy, it would be advisable to apply for full sets at the earliest possible moment.
When Postmasters obtain such sets to fill orders actual or prospective at their respective offices, they must not, in any case, break the sets.
I am, Sir, Your Obedient Servant, E. P. STANTON, _Superintendent._
P. S.--Under no circ.u.mstances will there be any issue of Jubilee stamps, beyond the limits mentioned in the accompanying extract from Hansard, containing the Postmaster-General's statement on the subject.
At the same time instructions were issued to postmasters that they were not to sell the 1/2c, 6c, 8c and dollar denominations except in the complete sets of sixteen values.
Later this ruling was modified and sets to 50c and $1 inclusive were allowed to be sold resulting in the issue of another circular to postmasters worded as follows:--
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