The 25c Solemn Land Definitive of the 1967-1973 Centennial Issue

Welcome to my first blog post on my new website! I do apologize for the delay in posting. It has been quite an involved process to get the website set up properly, and all the data migrated from the old site. As a matter of fact, I am not completely and totally finished yet. However, I did not wish to make any of you wait for another week for the next installment in the series. 

Today's post is about one of my favourite stamps of this series: the 25c Solemn Land, by J.E.H Macdonald. The design is a painting of the Algoma region in Ontario. This value, along with the 8c Alaska Highway, is one of the few stamps in the series that does not exist with PVA gum, though it does exist with Winnipeg tagging. 

Unitrade lists three paper varieties of the untagged stamps: dull fluorescent, non-fluorescent and hibrite, as well as a very scarce plastic flow variety. The tagged stamps are listed with both plain and hibrite papers. According to Unitrade, the printings on hibrite paper were released between October 1971 and December 1971, with the Winnipeg Tagged stamps being released later. 

In studying these stamps I have found some interesting additional variations in both the dull and non-fluorescent papers, including paper containing small numbers of fluorescent fibres, and a truly dead paper that gives no fluorescent reaction at all. The shade of green listed for this stamp is slate green, which is correct, but I have also found a brighter, more bluish green as well. 

So, without further ado, I will describe the printings of this stamp in more detail for the remainder of this post.

 

Paper Characteristics Other Than Fluorescence

Other than the fluorescence level of the paper, there are other characteristics that exhibit variations between printings. These include the direction of the weave, the extent to which the mesh is visible when viewed from the back, the colour and the surface porosity. The different papers that I have found on this stamp include:

1. The non-fluorescent papers are vertical wove and show no visible mesh, or ribbing whatsoever, even when held up to a strong backlight and viewed. The colour, when viewed against a white background is white to very light cream. When viewed at an angle under magnification, you can just make out a very light surface coating. However, when viewed dead on, the paper appears to be uncoated. There are no loose fibres visible on the surface of the paper, but there are very fine pores visible in the paper. 
2. The hibrite papers are very similar in all respects to the non-fluorescent paper above, except that the vertical mesh is highly visible from the back, and very light vertical ribbing is visible on the back. 
3. One variety of the dull paper is vertical wove, and shows no mesh at all when viewed from the back. When held up to a strong back light, very fine horizontal mesh is visible. The colour is a definite cream. Under magnification, there is a very light surface coating, that is visible when the stamp is viewed from an angle, but which is not visible when the stamp is viewed straight on. There no loose fibres visible in the surface of the paper, but there are very fine pores visible in the surface of the paper. 
4. Another variety of the dull paper is horizontal wove, and shows no mesh at all when viewed from the back. When held up to a strong back light, very fine horizontal mesh is visible. The colour is a definite cream. Under magnification, there is a very light surface coating, which is visible when viewed from any angle. There are very fine pores visible in the surface of the paper, but there are not a lot of them, and they are not obvious. 
5. Another variety of dull paper is also horizontally wove, but the vertical mesh is somewhat visible from the back of the stamp, and is obvious when the stamp is viewed against a strong back light. However, there is no ribbing visible on the gum. The colour is cream, even when it is not viewed against a stark white background. The printing surface of the paper, has a smooth, polished surface. There is a very light surface coating on the paper, which is visible under magnification. The paper surface under magnification, appears smooth, with no pores. 
6. Another variety of dull paper is identical to (4) above, except that the paper is vertical, rather than horizontal wove. 
7. Another variety of dull paper is horizontal wove and similar to the hibrite paper described in (2), but the colour is cream, rather than white, and there are no visible pores in the surface of the paper, which appears lightly coated on the surface. 
8. Another variety of dull paper is vertical wove, and is a much lighter cream colour than the normal cream paper. The printing surface appears highly polished, and under magnification, there is a clear surface coating visible, and a solid surface that shows no visible pores. When viewed from the back, the vertical mesh is just visible, and when held up to back light, both vertical and horizontal mesh is visible. 
9. Another variety of dull paper is identical to (8) above, except that the paper is horizontal, rather than vertical wove. 

The picture below shows the difference, when viewed from the back between the paper with highly visible vertical mesh and one without:

The paper with the clear ribbing is shown on the right, while the one without is shown on the left. 

The next scan shows the stark difference between the cream paper and the whiter paper:

Paper Fluorescence

Dull Papers

The dull papers are a complex group, as the colour of the paper varies quite widely under UV, and also some of the papers contain varying concentrations of low fluorescent fibres, whereas most do not:

The first type of dull paper that I have come across, on both the tagged, and untagged stamps, appears an ivory-grey colour as shown in the following picture:

This paper does not appear to contain any fluorescent fibres. However, I have found a version which does contain fewer than 5 low fluorescent fibres per stamp. 

The second type of dull paper is similar, but this time the colour is more of a greyish white. It lacks the light brownish tinge of the ivory grey:

Again, this version of dull paper is found both without any fluorescent fibres (shown at left), and with very few low and medium fluorescent fibres. You can just see them in the block on the right if you look in the margins between the two rows of stamps, and in the top selvage. 

The third type of dull paper appears a definite grey under UV. Two sub varieties of this paper contain either very few low and medium fluorescent fibres, or a very sparse concentration of both fibres:

The block on the left contains no fluorescent fibers, whereas the one on the right contains a very sparse concentration of low and medium fluorescent fibres. 

A fourth type of dull fluorescent paper contains very few low fluorescent fibres, and appears light grey in colour under UV, as shown in the following picture:

In all cases, the paper contains fewer than 5 low fluorescent fibres. 

A fifth type of dull paper is an ivory colour under UV, and contains a very few low fluorescent fibres:

A sixth type of dull paper contains no fluorescent fibres at all, and appears a light greyish bluish white, as shown below:

Finally, the last variety of dull paper I have seen only seems to occur on the tagged stamps. It contains a very sparse concentration of low fluorescent fibres and appears light grey blue under UV:

Although I have only seen this paper on the tagged stamps, I am fairly confident that it likely exists for the untagged stamps as well. 

The differences do not show as clearly in these pictures as I would like, due to the fact that it is difficult to capture them on camera. However, I can assure you that they do appear consistent with my description in real life, and will be obvious if you are sorting a large number of stamps and blocks at one time.

Non-Fluorescent Papers

I have found two, similar non-fluorescent papers on this stamp, as shown below:

These stamps appear grey and very dark grey under UV, with a slight bluish and violet tinge. The stamps on the bottom and right are the darker grey, and are true "dead" papers. This paper is much scarcer than any of the hibrite papers, and is scarcest on this value. 

Hibrite Papers

Even the so-called hibrite paper does exhibit variations as shown in the picture below:

The stamp on the right is the true hibrite level of brightness, but the other two stamps are not, through they are much brighter than most fluorescent papers found on this issue. I would say that the top right stamp is high fluorescent, while the bottom stamp is really medium fluorescent to high fluorescent. 

Shades

There are two distinct shade groups for the ink used to print these stamps:

1. Myrtle green
2. Deep grey green

The picture below shows the basic difference between the two shade groups:

The myrtle green shade is shown on the left, while the deep grey green shade is shown on the right. Generally, the difference is quite obvious, with the myrtle green, having a brighter, more blue-green appearance. In contrast, the deep grey green appears more blackish. The names I have given both shades come from the Stanley Gibbons colour key. The myrtle green is actually a touch brighter than what the swatch shows for myrtle green on the key. However, the deep grey green is a perfect match to the swatch with the same name on the key. 

I have found three other shades that are all variations of the deep grey green, or bottle green. The three shades are shown below:

The bottle green shade is the darkest blue-green on the Gibbons colour key. It is actually about mid way between the blackish green and the myrtle green. The next two pictures show the comparison between this shade and the myrtle green and deep grey green shades shown above:

The myrtle green is shown on the left 2 stamps, while the bottle green is shown on the right. As you can see that the bottle green shade is the same general tone, but it is not as bright as the myrtle green. 

Here, the bottle green appears on the left, while the deep grey green appears on the right. The bottle green is clearly less blackish and more bluish green than the deep grey green. 

The next shade that I have identified is the deep bottle green:

The difference between this and the regular bottle green can be tricky to see at first. But if you look carefully at this, you can see that the colour of the pair on the right is darker and less bluish green. 

The last shade, which is one of the more common ones, is a slightly more bluish, duller version of the deep grey green:

This is very similar to the deep grey green, but there is a little bluish tinge, and the colour is definitely duller. Below is a comparison scan showing the difference between this and the deep grey green:

As you can see the two shades are close, but the deep grey green is clearly darker. 

Under UV light, all of the inks except for those used in the printings on hibrite paper retain their character, so they are non-transformative. The inks used on the hibrite paper printings appear black, so they are transformative. 

Perforations

All four combinations of the line perforation measuring 11.85 and 11.95 have seen seen on all printings. So, all varieties should exist with 11.85, 11.95, 11.85 x 11.95 and 11.95 x 11.85. 

Gum

Although this stamp is only known with dextrine gum, I have identified five distinct types of dextrine gum, which vary in terms of colour, how smooth they are, and their sheen:

The first type of dextrose gum seems to be found on the non-fluorescent paper printings and is a very light cream colour. It is almost perfectly smooth and even, showing just a few blemishes in the surface, that run horizontally. The sheen is a semi-gloss sheen that borders on glossy.

The second type, shown in the picture above, is the standard cream coloured streaky gum that is commonly found on the earlier printings from this issue. It has a regular, horizontal pattern of small blemishes running through it. 

The third type of dextrine gum is similar to the first, in that the colour is a lighter cream. However, this type of gum is completely smooth, with no blemishes at all. The sheen is glossy. 

The fourth type of dextrine gum is shown above. It is a streaky gum, similar to the second type. This gum is a lighter cream colour, and has a distinctly duller, satin sheen. 

The fifth and final type of dextrine gum is shown above. It is very similar to the third type, in both colour, and the fact that it is perfectly smooth. However, like the fourth type, the gum has a distinct, duller satin sheen. 

Tagging

Starting in December 1969, printings of this stamp began to appear with Winnipeg tagging. Like the other values of this issue the tagging was applied in 8.5 mm bands, down the vertical perforations in the sheet. The configuration of the tagging bars is the same as with other values of the issue:

1. The bars were applied first to the top three panes in the printing layout of six panes, and then the bottom three. So, there is a small gap where the first group of bars ends and the next group begins. 
2. The horizontal spacing between the bars in the inner columns of the sheet is 28.5 mm, while the same spacing in the outer columns of the sheet is 27.5 mm. 

The appearance of the tagging shows some variations, both in normal lighting conditions, and under UV light. In normal light, the tagging bars usually appear as light yellowish bands at the sides of the stamp. Some examples have the taggant appearing, much, much lighter. The picture below shows the difference between these two types:

The normal, darker tagging is shown on the left, while the lighter tagging is shown on the right.

The appearance of the tagging under UV light, depends on whether the paper is dull, or hibrite. On the hibrite paper, the tagging appears as darker bands at the side of the stamp. When the stamps are printed on dull paper, the bands appear as a very light greenish white at the sides of the stamp. The picture below shows these differences:

Just as the tagging appears both dark and light on the stamps on dull paper, in normal light, the colour of the tagging under UV does vary. The stamps with darker bands glow a more greenish colour than the lighter bands, as shown in the picture below:

The difference between the two stamps is especially noticeable when you look at the right tagging bar on each stamp.  

Plate Flaws

The only reported plate flaw on this stamp is the plastic flow variety. It is much scarcer than that found on the 8c and 15c, and unfortunately I do not have a copy to illustrate here. However, it's appearance will be similar to the variety seen on other values. 

Bringing It All Together

Plates 1 and 2 were used to print all of the stamps. However, the tagged stamps were all trimmed of inscriptions prior to distribution to post offices. So, for the tagged stamps, it will be possible to collect up to 12 different corner blocks for each variety. However, with the untagged stamps, it will be possible to collect 8 different plate blocks and 12 different corner blocks for each variety, for a total of 20 blocks. 

In terms of varieties, I have identified:

• 7 types of dull paper, in terms of characteristics other than fluorescence.
• 2 levels of non-fluorescence.
• 3 levels of high fluorescence and hibrite.
• 10 variations of dull fluorescent paper.
• 5 shades.
• 4 perforations.
• 5 types of gum.

If every variety exists with all the others, the number of different stamps or blocks that can be collected is staggering. But of course, many varieties will exist only in combination with other varieties, so that determining how many different varieties there are to collect is very difficult, and is just a guess really. However, we can get a rough idea of how many there are by making some simplifying assumptions:

1. I will assume that each paper type corresponds to two and only two fluorescent variations, for all the dull fluorescent stamps.
2. All the shades exist with every printing.
3. All 5 types of gum exist for all printings.
4. All 4 perforations exist for all printings.
5. Four types of tagging exist - 2 different width spacings, plus 2 intensities. 

Consequently, the number of collectible stamps and blocks can be estimated as follows:

• Non-fluorescent untagged: 2 x 5 x 4 x 5 = 200 stamps and 4,000 blocks.
• Hibrite untagged: 3 x 5 x 4 x 5 = 300 stamps and 3,600 blocks.
• Hibrite tagged: 3 x 5 x 4 x 5 x 4 = 1,200 stamps and 14,400 blocks.
• Dull untagged: 10 x 5 x 4 x 5 = 1,000 stamps and 20,000 blocks.
• Dull tagged 10 x 5 x 4 x 5 x 4 = 4,000 stamps and 80,000 blocks. 

Those numbers are still very high, and it is doubtful whether many of the possible varieties actually exist. However, it does show that there is a considerable amount of scope to collect, that goes well beyond Unitrade.

This concludes this week's exploration of the different printings of this value from the series. This leaves me now with only 2 values left: the 50c Summer's Stores and the $1 Edmonton Oilfield. Next week, I will look at the 50c in depth.

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