Rates, Usage and Varieties on Cover During the Cents Issue Era: 1859-1868

David Schurman
Released February 2024. Exhibit series # 121.
118 pages, 8.5 x 11, spiral.
Colour C$ 38.00 [ISBN 978-1-989280-45-4].

The replacement of the British sterling system (using pounds, shillings and pence) with Canadian currency officially occurred on 1 July 1859. Not only were new coins of the country issued and denominated in dollars and cents, stamps that had been issued in the preceding Pence period were replaced with stamps of similar design and colour, with face values denoted in cents.

This exhibit is intended to give a comprehensive idea of the postal rates in effect from 1859 to 1867 and to give a sense of the various ways the mails were used, including a sampling of some of the major varieties that appeared during the printing of the Cents stamps. In addition, the book includes a significant showing of stampless covers mailed during this period.

David Schurman has been collecting Cents rate covers for many years. Only the second BNAPS exhibit book to show any covers from this period, after Art Leggett’s earlier work, David’s covers do not duplicate any of those from the previous book.