CHAPTER XX

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.