Introduction
Cartier 17c stamp design was based on the 10d Currency (cy.) – 8 d Sterling (Stg.) of 1851.
It was produced by the British American Bank Note Co. of New York, between 1859 and 1864.
A total of 12 orders were issued by the post office, and a total of 600,000 stamps were produced, and 33,876 destroyed when the new “Large Queen” were introduced in 1868, along with revised values.
The 17c was printed in sheets of 100 (10 rows and 10 columns) from a single plate.
The 17c rate was for mail to Britain via Cunard lines, (up to ½ oz.) and to France (up to ¼ oz.). A few other destinations have been recorded but are quite rare (varies from 1 to <10)
The predominant destination (Britain) and the low printing number contributed to the lower
representation of the 17c in domestic (Canada) stamp markets/auction houses.
Plating Basics
Cartier 17c stamp design was based on the 10d Currency (cy.) – 8 d Sterling (Stg.) of 1851
It was produced by the British American Bank Note Co. of New York, between 1859 and 1864.
The 17c was printed in sheets of 100 (10 rows and 10 columns) from a single plate
A total of 12 orders were issued by the post office Dept., and a total of 600,000 stamps were produced, of which 37,876 destroyed when the new “Large Queen” were introduced in 1868, along with revised values.
A grid of dots and guidelines were placed on the plate to assist in the setting of images by the transfer roll. These are often referred to as travelling dots. These dots serve as a primary criterion to identify the stamp position and the column it belongs. For example, column 4 always shows a dot on the ear, column 5 dot is on the cheek, 6 on the nose etc.
While the travelling dot is a main attribute to determine the column location, other attributes are often necessary to confirm exact position.
Short transfers: these are entries that are not deep enough to carry sufficient ink, they showing as pale (or weak imprint) on the finished stamps. They vary considerably on many positions but are essentially constant throughout the life of the plate. (see pos. 63 and 100 for examples)
Frame lines break or weakness: These vary from part of the line completely missing to a few weak (paler) frame lines. (Pos 45 or 90 are good examples).
Scratches and plate flaws constitute a significant number of attributes (50+) to assist or confirm a plate position, these are quite useful, especially when other attributes may be obscured by the cancellation or off-centre copies hiding part of the printing area.
Marginal marks and relative positions: There are many stamp positions that also show markings, often short lines outside the main image of a stamp. These are identified in the guide and are rendered easier to identify, by the recently available hi-resolution scans. Because the stamps were not perfectly aligned, it is not unusual to observe part of the adjacent stamp, on poorly centred copy. A comparison with a reference proof sheet proved useful in confirming many positions otherwise difficult to confirm.