Lot 399 Canada #781bar, 781ivvar, 781avar 1c Multicoloured Bottle Gentian, 1977-1982 Floral & Environment Issue, 8 Fine & VF used Singles BABN Printings With Colour Shifts On NF/DF and NF/LF Papers

8 fine & VF used singles of the 1c multicoloured Bottle Gentian from the 1977-1982 Floral & Environment Issue BABN printings with colour shifts on NF/DF and NF/lf papers. While minor misregistrations of the flower colours are common, most of the time these differences are not obviously noticeable. The examples offered here all show obvious misregistation of the engraving and flower colours. Four of the examples are on NF/DF paper, while four are on NF/LF paper. Most of the shifts are shifts of the engraving relative to the flower, and most all of the possible directions are covered here: leftward, upward, downward, and rightward. In addition to these though, are shifts involving the registration of the flower colours relative to one another (green shifted slightly leftward and blue shifted leftward) and relative to the light mauve background (blue shifted downward and green shifted up, blue shifted down and green shifted right). It is important to mention that I examined between 2,400 and 2,500 stamps and found only about 20 or so with any obvious shifts, and of those 20 or so, these were the best, either because of the cancels or condition, or because they showed the most obvious shifts. So, they are not nearly as common as you might think.

Unitrade values this at $12. The stamps offered here grade 66-78 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 30/60, 35/60 and 40/60

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

Cancellation: 6/10, 8/10 and 10/10