Canada #1818-1821 46c Multicolored Media Technologies-Fostering Canadian Talent, 1999 Millenium Issue, 4 XFNH Covers

4 XFNH first day covers of the 46c multicolored Media Technologies-Fostering Canadian Talent from the 1999 Millenium Issue.

Unitrade values these at $20. The first day covers offered here grade between 85 and 94 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 55/70, 64/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

The first day covers issued after 2000 have become increasingly scarce as the years have progressed, as Canada Post has drastically reduced production of them. According to data in the Chung & Narbonnne Catalogue in 2000 the average issue quantity was approximately 40,000 of each issue and 22,000 additional covers with inscription blocks. By 2007, which is the most up to date version of this catalogue that I have, those quantities had fallen to 26,000 and 5,400 respectively. I am confident that they have only continued to decline, though perhaps not as sharply as they did in the early 2000's. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that there is actual, genuine scarcity to first day covers now, especially those with inscription blocks, as the quantities just mentioned for those cover all four positions, so that the number available for a particular position, is less than 1/4 of the total in several cases. Envelopes are generally all on either high fluorescent (HF) or hibrite (HB) paper.