Canada 12d black explained

Common Name:	Twelve Penny Black
Country Of Production:	Canada
Location Of Production:	New York
Date Of Production:	14 June 1851
Nature Of Rarity:	few exist
Number In Existence:	about 120
Face Value:	12 pence
Estimated Value:	up to $425,500 (2011)^[1]

Canada 12d black or The Black Empress of Canada^[1] is the rarest Canadian postage stamp, issued in 1851. The 12-pence stamp shows the portrait of Queen Victoria and is the third stamp issued by the province.

History

In 1851, the Province of Canada issued the stamps of Queen Victoria. For the stamp image, the Queen's portrait by Alfred Edward Chalon (1780–1860) was used. This design is called the Chalon head. The stamps were printed in New York.^[2]

In fine and unused condition, these stamps are very expensive. In February 2006, a Twelve Penny Black was sold £116,000.^[3]

The first issue of stamps for the colony of Canada was made in 1851 and comprised three pence, six pence, and 12 pence values. One shilling was not used as the face value because in local currency, it had more than one meaning of value. In New England, one shilling meant 16 and two-thirds cents, which was equal to 10 pence. In New York, one shilling meant 12 and a half cents equalling seven pence halfpenny. Therefore 12 pence offered no misunderstanding. Out of 51,000 of the 12 pence black that were printed, about 130 copies of this philatelic item are believed to exist today. There are only five unused pairs and two used pairs.^[4]

See also

• Canada 2c Large Queen on laid paper
• List of postage stamps
• Penny Black
• Penny Lilac
• Penny Red
• Postage stamps and postal history of Canada
• Two Penny Blue

External links

• Canada 12d black value
• Web site: Pence (Sc #1–3) . Canada Rare Stamp Gallery . Saskatoon Stamp Centre . 2010-02-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121205230802/http://www.saskatoonstamp.com/rare/rare_pence.htm . 2012-12-05 . dead.
• Web site: Queen Victoria. ArchiviaNet : Postal Archives: Philatis – Visual Search: Canada, 1851–1966: Province of Canada, 1851–1867. Canadian Postal Archives Database; Canada Post Corporation. Ottawa, Ontario. 2010-02-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20160116004100/http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0003&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030101_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST. 2016-01-16. dead.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Black Empress of Canada . 2011-01-27 . Spink Shreves Galleries Sale – 130 . StampAuctionCentral and StampAuctionNetwork; Droege Computing Services, Inc. . Durham, NC . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050412/http://stampauctionnetwork.com/f/f1301.cfm . 2016-03-04 . 2015-06-19 . dead.
2. Book: Michel Catalog. Michel catalog. Übersee-Katalog. Nord- und Mittelamerika. Michel. 339 p.. 2000.
3. Ashton, R.. Sale of the century. Stamp Magazine. 73. 4. 44–51. April 2007. Corrected in: Stamp Magazine 73 (5): 9.
4. Web site: Canada - 1851 12 pence black. The British Library. 2019-01-30. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.