1897 Canada Cigarettes Stamps W/ Specimen Ovpt

First time I have seen this series of tobacco/ cigarette stamps with or without specimen OVPT . I don't have Van Dams catalog so really have no clue about them but hopefully someone can give a few details. Have to love the lathe/engraving work . Reminds of a spirograph when I was a kid but not in 1897. If anyone has the red 6 or any other denominations in this series I may be interested if there are others.

Don't have a Van Dam but they are described on page 78 of the C.D. Ryan - Catalogue of the Federal Tobacco Stamps of Canada.

http://www.canadarevenuestamps.com/...log2side.pdf

Hey Nitro, been a while.
Van Dam doesn't seem to list tobacco or cigarette stamps, with the exception of a very ugly New Brunswick tobacco tax. and a brief mention on the last page of 1940 Quebec tobacco proofs.
Have you tried his website? possibly something there.
I've also got a 1980 supplement to the Catalogue of Tobacco Paid Tax Stamps of Canada and Newfoundland, but again there seems to be no mention of your stamp in there. The book was put out by BNAPS, so that may be a route of investigation for you.
Nice stamps anyway! I've always liked tobacco stamps (but not the tobacco). Can't wait to hear what you find out.

edit-
another quick look at the BNAPS supplement does list the series of 1897 (though no pictures). It doesn't list a red stamp for the 6 denomination. There are catalogue numbers here for each of yours.
C-277B 7 green
C-273CP 7 blue
C-280CP 7 red
C-272CP 6 blue
C-277A 6 green

Don't know what the numbers indicate exactly, but maybe you can track down the BNAPS catalogue.

James (nice to be back when possible) and Rhino-- Thanks for the details and links. These came from AUS so maybe I'll send pic to van dam and see if I get any replies. Looks like I'm missing the 10c value but grabbed these since I had never seen them before. Looking at that CD Ryan catalog there are a ton of items seldomly seen but some great engraving and designs. Odd that not much info on pricing .