THE "OFFICIALLY SEALED" LABELS
Strictly speaking, the so-called "officially sealed stamps" are not
stamps, as that term is technically employed in philately. To the
uninitiated any design impressed upon a label, whether gummed and
perforated or not, may be termed a stamp; but the ordinarily accepted
use of the term has been restricted, at least in philatelic lore, to the
label that represents a value, collected or chargeable, in the service
in which it is employed. There may therefore be postal, telegraph or
fiscal stamps, and because of the identity in use--to show that _no_ fee
is required,--we can stretch our definition to include franking labels,
such as are often used officially. But the "officially sealed" label
performs no such function, and is, as its name implies, simply a _seal_
which fulfils that purpose alone and therefore does not properly belong
in the company of postage stamps. Our only reason for touching upon
these labels here is that they have been included in some of the
catalogs for years and many collectors possess them; consequently it
seems desirable to give their history along with that of their more
worthy prototypes.
The label figured as Number 117 on Plate X, seems to have been first
reported in _Le Timbre-Poste_ for October, 1879, and its date of issue
is usually given as that year. But little seems to have been known about
it for some time, which perhaps was partly due to its scarcity and
partly because it did not attract the notice that a regular postage
stamp issue would have.
The London Society's book quoted a somewhat ambiguous explanation of the
use to which the label was put, which had appeared in the _Halifax
Philatelist_;[202] but it remained for Major Evans to clear up the
matter in the columns of the _Philatelic Record_.[203] We cannot do
better than quote this in full:--
With reference to what is said about the Canadian
_officially-sealed_ label in the London Society's new book, I am
glad to be able to throw some light upon the question as to the
manner of its employment.
When I was in Canada last July [1889] I made special enquiries about
these labels, as there appeared to be some mystery about their use.
Everyone agreed that they were not placed upon _all_ letters opened
at the Dead Letter Office and returned to their senders, and no two
persons seemed to have quite the same theory as to the rules for
their employment or non-employment in any particular case. Even
gentlemen connected with the Post-Office at Halifax, such as Mr.
King and others, could give me no definite information. I therefore
determined to see what I could do at the head-quarters at Ottawa.
Fortunately, I was able, through a collector in an official
position, to obtain an introduction to the Deputy
Postmaster-General, who most kindly gave me the following
particulars, which show that the employment of the _officially
sealed_ labels is very restricted, thus accounting for their rarity.
Letters in Canada, as in the United States, very frequently have on
the outside the well-known notice containing the address of the
sender, and a request that the letter may be returned if not
delivered within a certain time. These of course are not opened at
the Dead Letter Office, and in fact, I think, are ordered not to be
sent there, but are returned direct from the office to which they
were originally addressed or from the head office of the district.
On the other hand, those that have no indication of the address of
the sender on the outside are sent to the Dead Letter Office, and
there necessarily opened; but neither of these classes thus properly
dealt with is considered to require the _officially-sealed_ label.
It is only if one of the former class, having the sender's name and
address on the outside, is sent to the Dead Letter Office and there
opened in _error_ that the _officially-sealed_ label is applied, to
show that such letter has been opened officially, and not by any
unauthorized person. Whether these pieces of gummed paper ever had a
more extended use or not I cannot say, but I was assured that the
above was the substance of the regulations as to their employment.
The Deputy Postmaster-General further stated that there had been so
many requests for specimens of these labels that the Department had
been obliged to make it a rule to turn a deaf ear to all of them.
In any case they are not _postage stamps_, properly speaking, at
all. They indicate neither postage paid nor postage due, but simply
that the letters to which they are attached have been opened by
proper authority, and they at the same time afford a means for
reclosing them.
[202] =North American Colonies of Great Britain=, page 19; =Halifax
Philatelist=, I: 15.
[203] =Philatelic Record=, XI: 210.
The labels are of relatively large size, being 25-1/2 by 38 mm. The
design is mostly engine-turned work, with the words OFFICIALLY SEALED on
a label across the center; above this appears, in a curve, POST OFFICE
CANADA, and beneath likewise DEAD LETTER OFFICE. The label is a fine
piece of line engraving, but we have been unable to ascertain the size
of the sheets in which it was printed. Doubtless the usual four
marginal imprints were employed, being the "Montreal" type in pearled
border.
It seems to be the general idea that the first printing of the labels,
which were in a dark red-brown, was the only one, but no information is
at hand concerning the quantity delivered. At any rate in the Canadian
Notes in _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_ for November 30, 1892 we read
that:--"From a reliable source it is learned that the old die of the
Canada official seal stamp has been spoiled or rather destroyed for
further use by the Bank Note Company, who have possession of it." We
suggest that the words "spoiled" and "destroyed" have been transposed in
the original, the meaning evidently being that the die had been defaced
as of no further use.
The labels were normally perforated the usual 12, but the same journal
for April 13, 1892 reports that a whole sheet had been seen in an
imperforate condition.
Though various rumors that the use of these labels was to be
discontinued are to be found in the late "90's" and early "00's", and
though the defacing of the die would perhaps indicate such intention,
yet a new issue in changed design made its appearance about 1905, which
was of course engraved by the American Bank Note Co., who then held the
contract for furnishing stamps. This handsome label, figured as Number
116 on Plate X, was adapted from the magnificent "Law Stamps" of the
"series of 1897", which stand as some of the finest fiscal stamps ever
issued. The central vignette, with its portrait of Queen Victoria at the
time of the Diamond Jubilee, the word CANADA arched above, and the
engine-turned border, are reproduced in their entirety from the fiscal
stamp; DEAD LETTER OFFICE and more engine-turned work replace the LAW
STAMP inscription of the prototype beneath the vignette, and OFFICIALLY
SEALED is filled in in block letters of varying heights at the top.
The labels are of course line engraved and perforated 12, but the sheet
arrangement or details of quantity printed cannot be given. They were
issued at first on a pale blue paper, but subsequently, about 1907,
appeared on plain white paper.