Dating Canadian Caution Notices
based on research provided by Dr. Sheldon Posen, Curator,
Canadian Museum of Civilization and his consultants.
The Canadian Inland Revenue Act of 1880 contained no requirement for a Caution Notice or ID similar to those required in the U.S. after 1868. The Act did contain strict stipulations about removing the revenue stamp and destroying boxes that had traces of a stamp. Law-abiding literalists made early Canadian boxes very scarce today.
Caution notices were introduced in 1883 by Inland Revenue, 46 Vict., Chapter 15.
The wording of the law and the Caution Notice is close (but not identical) to the 1880 U.S. version of the law.
267. Every manufacturer of cigars shall securely affix by pasting on each package containing cigars manufactured by or for him a label, on which shall be printed the number of his manufactory, and the number of the Inland division in which his manufactory is situated, and these words: “Notice: —The manufacturer of the cigars herein contained has complied with all the requirements of the law. Every person is directed to open this package in such a manner as to break the stamp, and is cautioned not to use either this package for cigars again, or the stamp thereon, nor to remove the contents of this package without destroying the said stamp, under the penalties provided by law in such cases.”
The law was rewritten in 1890, changing the wording of the Caution Notice, numbering each provision, thus making it distinctly different from that on U.S. made boxes of cigars. The new wording went into effect in July, 1891, but was permitted any time after November 1890. Canadian boxes with the earlier version Caution Notices are seldom found today.
The following form of caution notice is prescribed for use on cigar boxes:—
‘Factory, No. …………Inland Revenue Division No…………… [after 1921 “Port”]
Notice: The manufacturer of the Cigars herein contained has complied with all the requirements of the law. The following caution is to be strictly observed under the penalties provided by the Statutes of Canada:—
1st. This package is to be opened in such a manner as to break the Stamp.
2nd. The package is not to be used again when the present contents are removed.
3rd. The contents are not to be removed except for immediate sale; and
4th. When the package is empty the stamp and package must both be destroyed.
Sec. 93. This label for all cigar boxes is to be not less than three inches in length and two inches in width; or if made in circular or oval form, it shall cover not less than six square inches of paper and be of a size sufficient to contain, in addition to the caution notice prescribed in plain, open, and legible letters, these facts: (1) the number of the manufactory, and (2) the number of the Inland Revenue Division.
Later in the Act, factory identifications similar to those required in the U.S. since the 1860’s were introduced:
Article 9
Sec. 166 The law provides that there shall be burned, stamped, indented, or impressed into every box containing cigars, in a legible and durable manner, the registered number of the factory, the number of the Inland Revenue Division in which the factory is situated, and the number of cigars contained in each box: the number of cigars contained in each box may, however, if desired, be stenciled on the surface of the wood or other material of which the package is made; but the registered number of the factory, and the number of the Inland Revenue Division, must be burned, stamped, indented, or impressed into every box, as required by law …
Boxes with 1883 stamps (1883-1897) are found with both early and later Caution Notice wordings on paper labels. Boxes with 1883 stamps are also found with Caution Notices printed directly on the box as a result of a law change some time during the late 1880’s or early 1890’s. All Canadian cigar boxes with 1897 stamps have their Caution Notices directly printed on the box. Direct printing of the Caution Notice was not allowed in the U.S. until 1910.
Caution Notices in Canada were no longer required sometime between 1934 and 1939, possibly at the same time Series C revenue stamps were introduced in 1935.
Canadian tax officials were flexible regarding decorative borders around Caution Notices, unlike the U.S. where size and form were specified exactly after 1910. Decorative elements include horseshoes, maple leaf, beaver, elk, chains and fleur de lys as well as various geometric figures.