On July 1, 1867, the Province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario) united with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to become the Dominion of Canada.

Under the Post Office Act of 1867 all the postal affairs of the new Dominion were placed under the jurisdiction of the Post Office Department at Ottawa. Seven new stamps (½¢, 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, 5¢, 6¢, 12½¢, 15¢) were ordered, printed, and delivered throughout the Dominion for use on the official day of issue, April 1, 1868. A colour change on the 1¢ value appeared in 1869 and a 5¢ value was released in 1875.

Despite its basically short life, the Large Queen Issue has proved to be very popular with advanced specialists. Various papers, perforations, shades, watermarks, and plate varieties offer the general and specialist collector much areas to study.

While the ornamentation surrounding the vignette differs in each value, the basic design is similar and is based on a vignette "Victoria's Head Facing Right", engraved by Charles Henry Jeens (1827-1879). The Large Cents Issue, while beautiful, proved unpopular with the public due partially to its size.

Except for the 15¢ value which continued in use until after 1900 and the 5¢ value which was released hurriedly in 1875 to meet demands for a stamp of that denomination for mail to Great Britain, the Large Cents Issue was only in use from 1868 until some time shortly after 1870. The Small Cents series was produced and placed in use as stocks of the Large Cents values were depleted.