Stamp Production

The issue of a new stamp represents the final stage in a long process extending over two years. The public is invited to submit proposals to the Stamp Advisory Committee, which submits its recommendations on designs and choice of artists to the Canada Post Corporation. Often, several artists are invited to submit artwork. The design of new artwork is often requested from the artist chosen, in order to respond to the comments received. The approved artwork is next sent to the printer who will take care of the printing of the stamp using certain specific processes. In Canada, steel engraving was used almost exclusively until 1970. Since then, lithography has been by far the most widely used process.

The stamp issued on April 20, 1984, dedicated to the first voyage of Jacques Cartier in 1534, is used here to illustrate this entire process. The excerpts from the videos show the different stages in producing the last pane of the Historic Land Vehicles series issued in 1996.