Small Queens Again - Please Help A Newbie In This Canadian Wilderness!

I've finally taken on the challenge from Renden to start looking into my Small queens. Thank you to all of you that have already posted lots of informative posts on the subject - I have been reading your posts for several days!

I have started looking at the 1 cents - as I have read these are supposed to be less challenging - but let me assure you I am confused.




Needless to say, the candidates are not in best shape. I've started looking at the perforations (Thank you keijo for SCB's excellent digital perforation tool!):




Will look into each stamp one by one. First I just have to let of a little steam. Most literature etc are referring to the 3 distinct printing runs / periods - First Ottawa - Montreal - 2nd Ottawa. However Unitrade and Scott splits them into 2 series. What's the logic in that? Why not split into 3 series - or mingle them all into 1? Ok, so they decided to split into 2 - then why is the 1 cent only assigned in the first series, as long as that value was printed during all 3 periods like several others? Aarghh

I believe this sad queen is the easiest one to identify:

(My apologies for the poor scan, my company has got new and very cheap scanners - maxiumum 300 dpi).

The stamp is a more lively red in real life than on my screen. There is a distinct position dot in LL corner, perf. 11.8 x 11.9. This stamp has by far the finest impression ( and/or less worn plate) than any of the others, and the paper is fine and having obvious horizontal orientation of the grain. Hence I am convinced it's a very early printing from Ottawa. However - what number? 35ii (Ottawa) or 35iv (red orange, Mar 1870)? My Unitrade (2011) does not specify what year 35ii was printed The postmark says 1871.

I am confused. Thanks in advance for any help to a novice lost in the Canadian wilderness

My 2012 Unitrade (at the office) doesn't have a date of issue for 35ii either. My 1993 Darnell's that I keep at the office states that the 1¢ Orange printing from Ottawa was issued March 1870.

I will check my more recent catalogues when I get home.

All the best,

Jut checked my 2013 Unitrade and 2005 Darnell And there is no further date of issues for the 1¢ Small Queen.

All the best,

@ISWSC Webmaster - Thank you very much for your kind help - waiting to hear from you then

No problem @Blaamand. As my catalogues came up blank, I will look at some archived articles from the British North American Philatelic Society to see if there is any guidance there.

All the best,

So, continuing on my 1 cents... (Stamp no 2-3-4)
3 of my stamps have perf. 11 1/2 x 12, and as far as I understand this perforation is only found in the early Montreal printings. Fortunately I can see a distinct position dot in LL for all of these 3 stamps, supporting they are from Montreal printings, and have been printed before 1879 (according this source http://www.canadianpsgb.org.uk/smal...s_print.html)



Acc Unitrade there are 4 shades in orange and yellow, however I am unable to find a good reference for examples of these shades. Would appreciate if anyone can recommend a good site for the shades?

The shades get more prominent when zooming in a little:

I am guessing - can the middle be 35d orange - and the right be 35vi deep orange?

The left stamp is cancelled in 1877, however according to this website http://www.dglphilatelics.com/sq_1c.html, the year 1877 does not help in identifying shades as all the 11 1/2 x 12 printings had already been made


If the shades are not difficult enough, the names of shades are different on this website from the names used in Unitrade. The left seems a bit lighter than the other 2 - could it be light orange?

Maybe I am totally in the woods and the shades on my copies are not significant to be seperated at all? I'm calling you experienced Small Queen collectors for guidance, please

Next in my study is this (Stamp no 5)



Perforated 11.9 x 12.1 (12) - and it has a position dot in LL. (unseen on the image due to poor scanner). - so could be both First Ottawa and early Montreal. However the yellow shade and the ribbed paper make me think it is Montreal. Unitrade #35i....??

The 3 stamps remaining...(Stamp 6-7-8)




They are all perf. 12 (+/- 0.1) - no dots in LL or 3/9. They all seem to have poor low-quality paper, so I think they are from Second Ottawa printing. The middle stamp seems to fit well as bright yellow, making it #35, presume yellow also for the left one. However the one on the right leans more towards orange yellow - does this have a seperate number in Unitrade? I wonder if it can be 35ii. My Unitrade says 'Ottawa' for 35ii, but does not indicate if 35ii is from 1st of 2nd Ottawa printing.... Confused again Can anyone clarify?

All help or comments is highly appreciated. I feel like Bambi on the ice. Thanks for bearing with me

I did some digging on the internet and the following links might be able to help you.

The British North American Society has a 1 frame exhibit at: http://www.bnaps.org/ore/willson-1c...wexhibit.pdf

The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada also has an online article at:
http://www.rpsc.org/Library/SmallQu...l_Queens.htm

All the best,

I stop a long time ago to try to label them with a color name, too much thing change the colors with ages….. I put them on Lighthouse LB pages and erase and re write so many time the ID under the stamps , the pages I nearly torn….

Blaamand, I would say your "No 9 71" 1c small queen is 35ii. The first Ottawa printings were of the orange shade. Though it does not say in Unitrade under the listing, it says in the table on page 55 of the 2016 edition that the dates range between 1870 to 1873. The shades vary between orange and red-orange. Yours could be 35iv, but what colour I see on my monitor is probably different than what you see. Also, scanning these shades is very difficult.

I have not even dug into my 1c small queens yet, the 3c continues to haunt me!

@Brian - thank you so much for chiming in So you are still working on the 3c! I have seen lots of your posts on them - and you're really doing a great job for everybody interested in SQ. I came to the conclusion the 3c is quite challenging, so I figured I better wait working on them until I gain a little experience with the little less troublesome 1c

BeeSee believe the first stamp in my group is 35ii orange - and maybe the 35iv red orange. I realize shades are difficult on a screen - if anything the stamp in question is appearing much more red orange in real life than on my screen. Anyway - I'll take it as 35ii for now - thanks BeeSee.

I take what BeeSee is saying as confirmation that 35ii was indeed part of the First Ottawa printing - and not the 2nd Ottawa. I have been confused on this point because my Unitrade is not indicating year of issue for 35ii, it simply says 'Ottawa' (which is to little help really as long as there were 2 Ottawa printings). And the reference list presented above is also listing an orange shade for the 2nd Ottawa printing, which makes the information a little confusing.

Anyway BeeSee's response also answers some confusion about the 3 last stamps in my study - the ones from 2nd Ottawa printing. They cannot be #35ii then. If I understand Unitrade correctly - and with 35ii out of the question - it leaves only one of the 35's shades (in Unitrade) as being from the 2nd Ottawa - namely #35 yellow. All the other 35's shades are from either first Ottawa or Montreal. And then again that would imply that all the 3 last stamps in my study are supposed to be yellow. However this stamp does not look yellow to me :



I guess this stamp is the yellow-orange shade on the list in yesterdays post, but which has not been assigned a dedicated number in Unitrade...?? I would really appreciate if anyone can confirm if my reasoning makes sense.

@ISWSC Webmaster - thank you so much for trying to help
Your first link takes me to a fascinating display of 1c Large queens - but not Small queens - are the info for the Large Queens also relevant for the Small queens? Maybe I am missing something?

Thank you also for the link to the fabulous RPSC site for the Small Queens. I'd already spent lots of time on this site, very good reference .

area66 - Thanks, I can fully understand your reasoning... I will do an effort anyway, trying to have fun and not let the confusion get the better of me. But it would be very hard without this great forum of wisdom, inspiration and encouragement

http://canadianphilately.blogspot.c...70-1898.html

Blaamand check out this blog the guy has written a wonderful blog on Canadian philately that goes beyond Unitrade in terms of detail and info.

Jon, your stamp with the Brockville Ontario cancel appears to be dated with the year 1893. That is a square circle cancel which was used in Brockville from early 1993 until about 1901. That pretty well guarantees a 2nd Ottawa printing (2nd Ottawa started in 1889). Unitrade just lists basic varieties of the small queens.

From what I have seen, the 2nd Ottawa prints are all yellow, various shades, very little orange. Some are vary light yellow, hard to see the features. However, the earlier ones, like yours, are darker, and I guess can be considered yellow orange. Perhaps you can confirm your 35ii is much more orange than the Brockville? It does to me, looking at your first post above.