Cruising through "Stamps"

Canadian Small Queens – ink variations

Written by catpaw

October 04, 2015

While doing research on the Small Queens awhile ago, I ran into a couple of articles that listed what inks were used for the Small Queens. Problem is, for the life of me, I can’t remember which book. I suspect it was POSTAGE STAMPS AND POSTAL HISTORY OF CANADA by Winthrop Boggs. At any rate, what’s fascinating is the fact the inks were hand mixed for each run. Printers had their own recipes, which explains the wide variety of colour variations in the early stamps. The Small Queens are a bonanza for stamp collectors. You can get some pretty good colour charts, but if you’re like me, they still don’t help a lot. I struggle with the different and often subtle variations in colours, plus trying to decide if it’s a changeling or a genuine rare colour. You’d think that someone who’s collected as long as I have would whistle through colour identification, but nope, not so. It’s both maddening and fun. More often than not, my rare colour is actually a changeling.

There were 3 printing periods, each with their own ink mixtures –

The 1st Ottawa Period (1870-1872/3) at Wellington St. Ottawa
The Montreal Printing (1873-1889). The printing was moved from Ottawa to Montreal when the printers shifted the company to Montreal
The Second Ottawa Period (1889-1897). The printing was moved back to Ottawa when the government made the printer stick to the original contract location.

Two such ink mixture were:

1c	2c
6lbs lemon chrome yellow	12lbs American chrome green
3lbs orange	4lbs common chrome green
1/2 lb Venetian red — ferric oxide or iron oxide	4lbs white lead
2lb white lead	1lb lemon chrome yellow
2lbs Paris white – aka cliff stone or chalk	4 lbs lime white – limestone

Note the ingredients, they were quite a toxic stew. If you’d like to read a bit about the pigments used in inks and paints, Web Exhibits – Pigmets through the Ages has an excellent site that explores the evolution of colour pigments and the historic ingredients and how they were made. The colour variations can be dizzying to keep track of.

I pulled together a list of the major ones and use it as a rough guide (update – colours are taken from a variety of sources but mostly from Boggs excellent work mentioned above):

1/2c	1c	2c	3c	5c	6c	8c	10c	20c	50c
Black Grey black	yellow Orange Deep red orange Red orange Bright orange Lemon yellow Yellow orange orange yellow Pale dull yellow	green Blue green Deep green Dull sea green	orange red Rose Copper Dull red Dark rose Deep red orange Bright vermillion Deep rose vermillion Orange vermillion Orange Orange red Rose carmine	slate green Deep olive green Grey Pale olive grey Brown grey	yellow brown Dark yellow brown Brown Red brown Chocolate Chestnut Deep chestnut	violet black Blue grey Slate Grey	dull rose lilac Deep lilac rose Dull rose Pale milky rose lilac Light rose lilac Brownish red Pale lilac magenta Deep lilac magenta Carmine pink Magenta	vermillion Brown orange	deep blue

You can spend a life collecting nothing but Small Queens. The price differences are staggering. For instance a used 3c bright vermillion in VF condition can be had for $1 Cdn while a deep rose carmine variation can run about $40. A VG mint spans from $10 to $200 for the same set. Word of advice, before popping open a bottle of champagne about that rare deep rose carmine, get an expert to check it out.

Here’s a sampling of some of the variations: