Canada #909var, 910var, 914var, 967var, 970avar, 974var 1982 Commemoratives, Upper Left Inscription Blocks Printed on Scarcer Unlisted Paper Types

A group of VFNH upper left inscription blocks for the 1982 Commemorative issues, printed on scarcer unlisted paper types, as follows:

• 909, 910, 914, 970a and 974 are all on DF/LF-fl paper, rather than DF/DF paper. Two different variations of 910 are included.
• 967 is on DF/DF, rather than DF/LF-fl paper.

Unitrade cat. for these blocks is $24.25, counting them all as normal blocks. However, these are all scarcer than the normal papers, and therefore they should be worth a premium similar to the other blocks that are listed in Unitrade. These blocks grade between 75 and 84.

A Note About Paper in the 1978-1982 Period

The stamps during this period are printed primarily by Ashton Potter and BABN, and occasionally CBN. They used five main types of paper, all of which, with the exception of the the uncoated CBN paper are chalk coated. The five types are:

• A smooth paper that tends to be NF, or DF on the front, but on the back can be anywhere from DF or NF to bright fluorescent, with a fairly dense concentration of fluorescent fibres of varying brightness. This paper was used by BABN for the 1978 CAPEX Issue and the 1981 Niagara on the Lake issue. On the CAPEX issue, DF/LF-fl is the norm whereas on the other issue DF os the norm.
• A crisp, smooth plate glazed uncoated paper used by CBN for the Ice Vessels, and Canada '82 issue. Usually this paper is LF-fl with visible fluorescent fibres that vary in brightness and concentration, though DF is fould also.
• An uncoated paper used by CBN for the Diefenbaker issue. This paper is always DF.
• A medium, chalk coated paper, supplied by Abitibi-Price, that tends to be DF and tends to contain any number of LF and MF fibres. Unitrade often describes this paper as DF, and it can indeed be DF with no fluorescent fibres visible, but it can also include a lot of LF and MF fibres as well. Generally if the paper still reads overall as DF or NF, then it will be considered a variation of DF. Once it reads as LF, then it moves into that category. However, there may be 2-4 sub-types of each of these types of paper. This was the most commonly used paper during this period. The default level of fluorescence for most issues is DF, or DF with some fluorescent fibres. True DF/LF-fl paper does occur on some issues and is listed for most issues where it does occur, but it is generally quite scarce and is often mis-idenified because there are a lot of DF variants that contain some small amount of fluorescent fibres that are just variatons of DF. Much of what Unitrade calls LF during this period can appear almost MF.
• As above, except the paper is distinctly ribbed. This was only used for the 1981 Botanists issue.

As you can see great care has to be taken to properly identify papers during this period. It must be appreciated that the terms NF and DF are not interchangeable. DF is a dull bluish or greyish white that lacks brightness, but still emits a very low level of light under UV. NF on the other hand must appear either deep violet, deep grey or deep blue and not be reflecting any, or very little light.