Canada #705var, 710var 1c, 5c 1977-1985 Floral & Environment Issue, 2 VF Canada Post Official FDC's Franked With UR Plate Blocks, Showing Donut Flaws & Leftward Shift Of Engraving, Split Tagging Bars, DF Envelopes & Papers

2 VF Canada Post official FDC's of the 1c, 5c multicoloured Bottle Gentian & Shooting Star from the 1977-1985 Floral & Environment Issue franked with UR plate blocks, showing donut flaws & leftward shift of engraving, split tagging bars, DF envelopes & papers. The 1c block shows a significant leftward shift of the dark purple engraving, with the "1" and "C" of Canada touching the inner frameline at left. The 5c block shows a donut flaw to the right of the flower, which may be tertiary. The DF envelopes appear to be the standard ones for these issues, with the fluorescent envelopes being less common. The fluorescence of the envelopes is an important characteristic that has been ignored by all the catalogues. Why does it matter? Because the envelope is an integral component of the FDC in the same way that a cover would be to a complete booklet, or the cardboard insert would be to a pack of plate blocks. The expectation, and general observation would be that Canada Post would utilize one type of envelope for a particular issue, so that if a different one from the standard type is found, then there is a good chance that it will be scarce, and is therefore, in our opinion collectible.

Unitrade values this at $10.