Lot 122 Canada #598vii A VFNH Upper Left Plate Block of the 50c Blue Green, Royal Blue and Buff Seashore from the 1972-1978 Caricature Issue, Type 2, Perf. 12.5 x 12, 4 mm OP-2, Smooth, LF/F Paper

A VFNH upper left plate block of the 50c blue green, royal blue and buff Seashore stamp from the 1972-1978 Caricature Issue. This is the type 2 perf. 12.5 x 12 with the 4 mm OP-2 tagging. Smooth LF/F paper.

Unitrade values this block at $60. The block offered here grades 80.

A Note About Paper Types, Perforations and Tagging on the Landscape Designs

The 10c through 50c stamps were printed by the British American Bank Note Company on chalk-surfaced paper, using photogravure and engraving. These were the first Canadian stamps to be printed in this manner. Because of this, quality control problems were encountered with the printing in certain parts of the designs of the 10c, 15c and 25c being too weak. The plates were subsequently retouched to ensure that the printing in these areas would be solid, and these are the so called type 1 and type 2 differences on the 10c, 15c and 25c values. No such problems were encountered in printing the 20c value, which is why there is no type 1 or type 2. The so called type 1 and 2's on the 50c are not really of the same nature as the other 3 stamps, ad the difference is really more of a difference in the way the stamp was printed. But the difference is significant enough in appearance that it has been dubbed by collectors as a type difference.

A number of experiments were carried out during the life of this issue, both with respect to the makeup of the chalk coating, the paper used to print the stamps, the perforations and finally the tagging. I will briefly discuss each below.

Chalk Coating

The chalk coating initially was applied in such a way as to make the paper appear vertically ribbed. This is the most common way that the early printings are found. Later, the coating was changed, and this resulted in a smoother appearance, that had very fine horizontal ribbing. Finally, the coating was changed again to make it completely smooth on the printing surface.

The coating most often appears either NF or DF under UV, but in some cases, it actually does contain a level of fluorescence, where some stamps are LF or HB on the face and less bright on the back. Most of the time the coating masks the inherent fluorescence of the paper, so that it appears slightly less fluorescent than the underlying paper. So, a stamp that appears MF on the back may appear LF on front, but it is getting its fluorescence from the paper and not the coating itself.

Paper Fluorescence

The paper itself varies from HF all the way to HB, with many flecked variations, in which varying concentrations of low, medium and high fluorescent fibres are present in the paper, and these have the effect of making the paper appear even brighter than it is.

In addition, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, some of the early printings contain what I call "woodpulp flecks". These are flecks that only show up under UV, but instead of being fluorescent, they appear dark. So, where fluorescent fibres make paper appear brighter, woodpulp flecks make it appear less bright.

Needless to say, as complex as the Unitrade listings may appear, they are in no way complete, and in many cases up to 10 sub-types of many listed papers can be found and readily distinguished with careful use of a good UV lamp.

Perforations

The stamps were all comb perforated. The initial printings are perf. 12.5 x 12 and the perforations do not extend all the way through the selvedge. Later, in 1976 the gauge was changed to 13.3 and the perforations extend all the way through the sheet margins.

Tagging

The stamps appeared in September 1972, right as Winnipeg tagging was being phased out in favour of General Ottawa tagging. Because of this, the initial printings were issued with both types of tagging. But there was a problem. The OP-4 chemical compound used in the Ottawa tagging was found to be unstable and it has migrated over the years through the stamps and onto other stamps, resulting in yellow contamination. While Unitrade states that such stamps are damaged, in practice it is very difficult to find examples that aren't affected to some degree by migration of the tagging.

Because of this difficulty a new chemical OP-2 replaced the OP-4 in 1973. Initially the printings before 1974 used bars that were 3 mm wide, but later this was changed to 4 mm in 1974.

Many of the printings that are now scarcer were not produced on philatelic stock and are thus only known on field stock, and thus only bank corner blocks are known. Many of these have become scarce because it was common practice within the trade during the 1980's to use field stock for postage, thinking that because there were no plate descriptions, that the material had no collector value. Little did most dealers know, at the time, that many of the significant varieties would only exist thus, and that in using this material up they were inadvertently making it scarce.

Another thing to note is that the prices in Unitrade are in no way reflective of scarcity. There are still some printings like 594vii, and 596v that I have never, ever seen in mint condition, and still others like 595iv, 595v, 594a, 597iv and 597v that I hardly ever see, despite the fact that they only list for a few dollars each and in some cases less than $1.