The Story of Canada's First Stamp

The Sanford Fleming

3 Pence Essay

The story of Canada's first postage stamp is a fascinating one. Designed by Sanford Fleming in 1851 and printed in a rush in April of that year, the steps taken to produce the stamp caused much controversy. The attached article, reproduced here with the kind permission of its author, Charles Firby, describes the steps taken by the then postmaster general, James Morris, first to have the stamp designed, then engraved and finally printed. The controversy centered on the question of whether the stamp should be printed in Canada or the United States. It's ironic that we are still fighting this battle today for some of our issues. We encourage our viewers to read this fascinating article and we thank Mr. Firby for making this important research available.