1894 Newfoundland

Newfoundland #55 is a 5-cent blue stamp from Newfoundland's 1880–1896 definitive series, featuring the Harp Seal design first introduced in the First Cents Issue of 1865. The engraved design shows a Harp Seal resting on ice with a rocky coastal scene in the background, with "Newfoundland" in a banner at top and "Five Cents" with corner numerals at bottom. The blue color of this printing distinguishes it from the earlier brown printing of the same design (Scott #25).

The Harp Seal was one of the most economically important animals in 19th-century Newfoundland. Each spring, vast numbers of Harp Seals congregated on the ice floes off Newfoundland and Labrador to give birth, and the annual seal hunt was a major source of income for outport communities across the island. Sealers worked in brutal conditions aboard wooden ships, hunting across the shifting ice for weeks at a time. The pelts, oil, and meat from the hunt helped sustain families through the long winters before the summer fishing season began. At its peak in the mid-19th century, the Newfoundland seal hunt was one of the largest wildlife harvests in the world.

The decision to reprint the Harp Seal design in blue for this later issue reflects the practical approach Newfoundland's postal authorities took during the 1880–1896 period, reusing proven designs in new colors to meet postal needs without the expense of commissioning entirely new stamp artwork. The same codfish and seal designs introduced in 1865 continued to serve Newfoundland's postal needs for three decades, appearing in a succession of color printings that give today's collectors a rewarding range of varieties to study and collect.