the appearance of ribbing, is to hold the stamp before a strong
light, when the ribbing will appear like fine horizontal laid lines
on the 5c, and vertical laid lines in the other values. Looking
through the paper is the only sure test, as many of the stamps on
the other papers have the appearance of being ribbed.

To differentiate between stamps on ribbed paper and those having the
"appearance" of being ribbed is surely getting very close to the
ridiculous.

With the exception of the 10c the stamps of this issue provide but
little variation in shade but the 10c more than makes up for this lack
in the others for it exists in almost every conceivable tint from bright
red-lilac through shades of violet and brown to a brown so intense as to
be catalogued as a distinct variety described as "black-brown".

All the stamps of this series were normally perforated 12 by single line
machines. All values are known entirely imperforate and it would seem
that these, or most of them, are perfectly legitimate errors. The
_Philatelic Record_ for October, 1882, says:--"We have seen a used
_imperforate_ copy of the 5 cents, 1859, which is beyond challenge". Mr.
King states:--"The imperforate varieties are all legitimate, and
undoubtedly genuine, having been seen in pairs, or in single copies with
margins beyond cavil". Mr. Charles L. Pack writing in the _London
Philatelist_ regarding these varieties says:--

I have the 1c and 5c postmarked in 1860 and 1861 at Toronto and
Prescott, Canada West. I also believe that these varieties were on
sale at Kingston, Canada West, at about that time. I have also the
2c and 10c in undoubtedly early used condition.

Bi-sected varieties of the 5c and 10c of this issue are known though, as
Mr. Howes states of these varieties, they "were never authorised and
seldom used". The _Philatelic Record_ for October, 1888, mentions a part
of a cover with a 10c and half of a 5c side by side which were evidently
used in prepayment of the 12-1/2c rate, while Mr. Howes records the
existence of a pair of the 5c used with a half stamp of the same
denomination to make up the 12-1/2c packet rate. The same writer records
a diagonal half of the 10c used as a 5c stamp from Bowmanville, Upper
Canada, on February 15th, 1860. Whether these "splits" were the work of
private parties or were made by postal officials to fill a temporary
shortage of certain values will probably never b