It seems that the American Bank Note Co., upon taking the contract for supplying the Canadian stamps in 1897, asked to be excused from printing the stamped envelopes as well, because such a small number were used. This work was therefore given to the Government Printing Bureau at Ottawa,[214] which accounts for the dies having been furnished by Messrs. De La Rue & Co. The stamp accounts give the number of 3 cent envelopes furnished in the new type as 110,000 in 1898 and 70,000 in 1899, a total of 180,000; but the reduction of the domestic letter rate from 3 cents to 2 cents on the 1st January, 1899, made the 3 cent envelope useless, and large quantities were surcharged with the new rate, so that it is impossible to tell what proportion of the amount given is now represented by each variety. If catalog pricing is any criterion, the unsurcharged issue of the envelope should be perhaps 80,000. [214] =Weekly Philatelic Era=, XI: 308. The Report for 1899 states:-- As a result of the reduction in the Domestic Letter rate of postage, the issue of the 3c. letter card, 3c. stamped envelope and 3c. postage stamp has been discontinued, unused quantities of these, however, continuing available for postage purposes, or exchangeable at any post office for their equivalent in postage stamps of other denominations. The Report does not give the date of issue of the 3 cent stamped envelope, but it was chronicled in _Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News_ for May 5, 1898, and therefore was probably issued sometime in April. The date of discontinuance is given, however, as December, 1898, so that it had a life, unsurcharged, of only about nine months. [Illustration] But meanwhile the 1 cent envelope was being prepared, and evidently because of the dissatisfaction expressed over the embossed head of the Queen on the 3 cent value, the new envelope appeared with the familiar youthful profile similar to that used on the British envelope dies for so many years. This improved the appearance of the stamp, which otherwise corresponded in design with the 3 cent and was likewise engraved by Messrs. De La Rue & Co. It was printed in a dark green on paper like that of the 3 cent value, and in the same size and cut of envelope. The new type was issued on July 22, 1898, according to the 1899 Report, and was sold at $1.20 per hundred. The distribution of the old style 1 cent envelopes was discontinued in the same month, according to the stamp accounts.