Lot 391 Canada #720var 30c Multicoloured Red Oak, 1977-1982 Floral & Environment Issue, A VF Canada Post Official FDC Franked With A LR Plate Block Showing the True "Show On Leaves" Variety & Dot Inside D Of Canada (Pos. 50), LF Paper, DF Envelope

A VF Canada Post official FDC of the 30c multicoloured Red Oak from the 1977-1982 Floral & Environment Issue franked with a LR plate block showing the true "show on leaves" variety & dot inside d of canada (pos. 50), LF paper, DF envelope. The true snow on leaves variety shows white edges around the leaves, due to a shift between the alignment of the dark red and white underlay in the design. I had thought, before I saw this that the dark red was printed over top of deeper brownish stone background colour. But, of course, this is not the case, as if it were, the dark red leaves would be discoloured. So, to prevent this, there is a white, unprinted area underneath. Normally, when the red is printed in the correct alignment, the white is not visible at all. But where the red is printed out of register, the white can be seen to adorn the edges of the leaves, and hence the variety. I had confised this with examples that show brownish stone edges to the leaves, due to misalignment of the engraving colour with the red. These are much more common than this variety and are NOT the variety that Unitrade is referring to. In addition, this block shows a maroon dot inside the "D" of Canada. This may or may not be a constant or tertiary variety. More study will be required to establish whether there is indeed any consistency to it, or whether it is a freak variety. The DF and LF envelopes appear to be the standard ones for these issues, with the those higher than LF 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.

Chung values this at $4.20 for the basic cover. Unitrade values the variety at $10 per stamp. Our estimate of the value of the cover is $45.