Canada #703a 10c Yellow Brown & Black - Yellow Green & Black Northcote - Athabasca, 1976 Inland Vessels, A VFNH Sealed Pack Of Plate Blocks On DF/DF Paper, Includes Constant Varieties At Pos. 10, 45 & 42, Unitrade Cat. As Blocks $22

A VFNH sealed pack of plate blocks of the 10c yellow brown & black - yellow green & black Northcote - Athabasca from the 1976 Inland Vessels on DF/DF paper, includes constant varieties at pos. 10, 45 & 42.

Unitrade values this at $22. The pack offered here grades 80 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 50/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

The sealed packages of plate blocks and single stamps first made their appearance on the Canadian philatelic Scene in 1973, as best I can determine. They are an exciting and emerging new field within Canadian philately, as Canada Post went through no fewer than 6 basic design changes for their inser cards, and several of these exist with two or three sub-types. Whenever a change was made it often happens that a particular definitive or commemorative issue may have been issued with more than one type of pack design. We have seen as many as three for one issue. Also, the fluorescence of the card stock used for the cards varies widely from DF to HB, and in some cases when the Philatelic Department ran out of a particular size card, a certain size sealing bag or the blocks themselves, improvisations were made to allow production to continue, and all of these varieties are collectible. The best part is that no one knows the relative scarcities, so you can pick up scarce varieties for less than you would otherwise pay. These packs are the subject of this week's blog post. In it, you will find a full explanation of the terminology that we have used in the lot descriptions, such as the pack types and so forth.