1852 Canada

This is one of the most important stamps ever produced in North America. Canada Scott 4 is the three-penny Beaver, first issued in 1852, and it holds a remarkable distinction: it was the first stamp in the world to feature an animal instead of a king or queen. That was a bold choice for the time. The designer selected the beaver as a symbol of hard work and the natural wealth of British North America, though Queen Victoria's royal initials, V.R., still appear beneath the crown at the top as a reminder that Canada was still a British colony. It was a stamp that said something about who Canadians were and what they valued.

The engraving shows a beaver resting on a rocky shore, surrounded by water, all printed in a warm red-orange color that has made this stamp instantly recognizable to collectors for more than 170 years. Notice that the edges are straight rather than perforated, because stamp-perforating machines hadn't come into wide use yet when this was printed. The bold circular cancellation was a typical way Canadian postal workers marked mail in the 1850s. Interestingly, this stamp was actually printed in New York by the same company that produced many early American stamps of the same era, giving it a fun connection to U.S. philatelic history as well.