Canada #515-516 6c Red and Bright Blue & Brown Louis Riel & Carved Inscription, 1970 Louis Riel & Sir Alexander Mackenzie Issues, 10 VFNH Singles On Different Smooth & Vertcal Ribbed Papers

10 VFNH singles of the 6c red and bright blue & brown Louis Riel & Carved Inscription from the 1970 Louis Riel & Sir Alexander Mackenzie Issues on different smooth & vertcal ribbed papers. The stamps include:
• DF grayish, smooth paper
• DF grayish white, smooth paper
• DF grayish white vertical ribbed paper
• DF ivory cream, smooth paper
• DF ivory cream, vertical ribbed paper
• HB level 12, streaky gum
• HB level 11, streaky & smooth gum
• HF level 9, streaky & smooth gum

Unitrade values these at $3 For Normal. Our estimate of the value is $12. The stamps offered here grade between 80 and 84 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 50/70, 54/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

The Mackenzie issue uses the same paper as the Canada Games issue and the earlier Henri Bourassa issue, in that it is generally always HB 12 or HB 11. This issue is a continuation of the use of a paper by the CBN that is the extremes, in that it can either appear either as dead under UV or as HB11, HB12 or HB10. The paper also exists in smooth surfaced form and also showing clear horizontal ribbing, or in the case of the Louis Riel stamp, vertical ribbing. Which paper , smooth versus ribbed, is the scarcer, seems to vary from issue to issue. The horizontal ribbed paper dominates on the ILO, Charlottetown Bicentennial and Biological Programme issues, but it appears to be the scarcer paper on the Louis Riel, Henry Kelsey and Oliver Mowat issues. I have done my best to capture these differences by taking pictures with my camera under UV light, but the differences can be harder to see than in real life. That should be borne in mind if you are looking at the scans and cannot tell the difference between them.