contained one
hundred impressions arranged in ten horizontal rows of ten each. The
exception referred to occurred in the 1/2c, the first plate for which
contained 200 stamps, arranged in ten rows of twenty stamps each. This
is mentioned in the _Weekly Philatelic Era_ as follows:--

By some misunderstanding the contractors, the American Bank Note
Co., set the sheet up with 200 stamps, and the first five hundred
sheets were so printed. The sheets were afterwards cut in two
through the imprint, and we have these half sheets with a close
imperforated margin on either the left or right edge. Afterwards
sheets of 100 stamps were issued, all the stamps perforated on all
four sides. Plate number collectors will find the earliest sheets
difficult to obtain. Both sheets bear the plate number 1.

The imprint on the sheets followed the plan originated with the Jubilee
series, "OTTAWA--No--1," etc., being placed in the centre of the top
margin. Each value began with No. 1 and apparently for the 5c, 6c, 8c,
and 10c the one plate sufficed. For the 1/2c, as we have already shown,
there were two plates, both numbered "1"; while for the 1c there were
two plates, for the 2c, three plates, and for the 3c, six plates.

The stamps were printed on stout white wove paper, similar to that used
for the Jubilee stamps and at some time or other a slightly thinner and
more brittle paper seems to have been used. The paper for the 5c is of a
distinctly bluish color--this being the first occasion on which colored
paper was used for any of the postage stamps of the Dominion.

The perforation was the regulation gauge of 12, which has been in
continuous use since 1858, and, as the _Philatelic Record_ stated when
first chronicling the issue, "many of the stamp are badly centered, a
characteristic defect of the American Bank Note Company's work." The 5c
is known entirely imperforate.

_Reference List._

1897. Engraved and Printed by the American Bank Note Co.,
Ottawa, on wove paper. Perf. 12.

52. 1/2c black, Scott's No. 66.
53. 1c green, Scott's No. 67.
54. 2c purple, Scott's No. 68.
55. 3c carmine, Scott's No. 69.
56. 5c dark blue on bluish, Scott's No. 70.
57. 6c brown, Scott's No. 71.
58. 8c orange, Scott's No. 72.
59. 10c brown-violet, Scott's No. 73.

CHAPTER XV.--_The "Numeral" Issue of 1898._

The "maple-leaf" issue had not been long