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 |
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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:
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