Canada Stamps - Imperial Penny (Christmas 1898) - Quartet of Shades (#85, #85i, #86, #86b)

In late 1898, the general postmaster of Canada, William Mullock, decided to reduce the most common postal rate of ½ oz. from 3¢ to 2¢ for Christmas Day! A rare case of postal price deflation, this rate of 2¢ would then hold for 53 years (until 1951)! Two cents was, at that time, the equivalent of one British penny, which is why this issue is called the "Imperial Penny" and shows a map of the British empire as it stood in 1898!

However, the reason this issue is most famous nowadays is that these are widely considered to be the VERY FIRST CHRISTMAS STAMPS IN THE WORLD (and by a large margin of several decades)! Due to popular demand at the time, the issue date was preponed from Christmas Day to December 7, but the inscription "XMAS 1898" was added to the bottom of the map, therefore cementing the fact that the first ever Christmas stamps are Canadian!

This issue was officially printed in four different shades (#85: lavender, #85i: grey, #86: blue & #86b: deep blue), which are all depicted in the catalogue! It is practically the only issue where all colour varieties are demonstrated as such, which stands as a testimony to the high popularity of these stamps! The four examples in this collection have been especially selected for their high colour contrast and fidelity to the original printing colours!

As stated in the catalogue, many examples show a bit of colour oxidation nowadays, which can result in some different water shades on the stamps, but these are not genuine printing varieties. Therefore, finding such a high contrast set that is showing the original colours can prove to be tricky without having access to a large stock (we were only able to assemble a few)!

PS: Image as a reference only, the centring and cancellation on the stamps can vary, but generally used fine or better. Most examples are sound, but there may be the occasional typical small faults seen on used stamps from this era. We have also noted many beautiful CDS (circular date stamps), but each set is unique!