Of course the desideratum for the settlement of the whole question is to find a copy of the stamp used on cover; but inasmuch as up to the present time but three copies of the 12d. on laid paper are known in this condition, it seems a hopeless quest. Nevertheless there appear to be several _used_ copies of the wove paper 12d. known, the first mention we find of one being in the report of the proceedings of the Philatelic Society of London for 4th May, 1888,[18] which reads: "The business of the evening consisted in the revision of the Society's reference list of the Stamps of Canada, which was concluded, Mr. F. Ransom showing an undoubted postmarked specimen of the 12d. first issue, printed upon stout wove paper." Mr. W. H. Brouse, the eminent Canadian philatelist, also possessed a cancelled copy of this stamp, which later adorned the Ayer collection, it is understood. An editorial in the _Dominion Philatelist_ thus speaks of it:[19]--"We have received from W. H. Brouse, of Toronto, a photograph of ... 12 pence Canada on _wove paper_ [which] appears to be a beautiful specimen with fine margin and light cancellation." Two fine copies, one unused and one used, were sold in the auction of the Mirabaud collection at Paris, in April, 1909. [18] Philatelic Record, X: 124. [19] Dominion Philatelist, No. 34, p. 8. From the above it is plainly evident that the 12d. on wove paper properly exists, in spite of the "first [and only] printing on laid paper" theory, which is usually laid down as an _a priori_ consideration. Also it appears that it is found in a used condition, though this cannot be taken as an absolute test, because of the uncertainty that may lurk in a cancellation on a detached specimen of a stamp. Only the discovery of a copy properly used on the original cover, as already intimated, can effectually settle the question of its actual issue and use. But there is a fact which doubtless furnishes the clue to the seeming mystery of its being. We have already noted that the laid paper first used varied considerably in thickness, and also that the wove paper next used was in all respects similar to the former, but of course without the laid lines. Now it happens sometimes that it is quite difficult to distinguish the laid paper, a very careful scrutiny or even the extreme resort to the benzine cup being necessary to bring out the watermarked lines, and perhaps then only in a half suspicious way. If such be the case, it is only a step further to the entire disappearance of these "laid lines," and lo, the wove paper!