Postage stamps and postal history of British Columbia

An 1865 stamp of British Colombia.

In 1860, the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia issued a postage stamp inscribed with the names of both British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

Colonies

The two colonies had been united until the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858 caused an influx of settlers via Vancouver Island and, after this, British Columbia was made a separate colony. In 1866, the two were reunited as British Columbia and, in 1871, this became a province of the Dominion of Canada.

Stamp details

The unified stamp was issued for reasons of economy, both colonies having sufficient customers to justify the printing of stamps, but not enough to justify separate issues for each colony.^{[citation needed]} The one stamp was denominated 2½ pence, depicting Queen Victoria in profile, and was surface-printed in a brownish-rose color by De La Rue. 235,440 were printed.^{[citation needed]}

In 1862, Vancouver Island switched to decimal currency, and sold the unified stamp for 5 cents. It first issued its own 5- and 10-cent stamps in September 1865. In June 1864, British Columbia increased its postal rate to 3 pence, selling the unified stamp for 3d until its own stamps became available in November 1865. Pairs of stamps, used to pay a special rate to Vancouver Island, were also sold at 15 cents per pair. Although after 1865, the 2½d stamp was officially invalid, in 1867 some were made available at a 6¼ cent rate to express mail operators.

The upshot of all this was the single type of stamp was sold for 2½d, 3d, 5c, 6¼c, and 7½c without ever receiving a surcharge indicating a changed value.

The surviving stamps sell for about US$250 as of 2003, but much more if they are in good condition and well-centered.

See also

• Postage stamps and postal history of Canada

Sources

• Stanley Gibbons Ltd, various catalogues
• Stanley Gibbons Ltd, British Commonwealth 1966, Stanley Gibbons Ltd, 1965
• Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. The Stamp Atlas. London: Macdonald, 1986. ISBN 0356108627
• XLCR Stamp Finder and Collector's Dictionary, Thomas Cliffe Ltd, c.1960
• Robson Lowe, The Encyclopaedia of British Empire Postage Stamps, vol. 5, pt. 4

External links

• AskPhil – Glossary of Stamp Collecting Terms
• Encyclopaedia of Postal History