Lot 429 Canada #598 50c Multicolored Seashore, 1972-1977 Landscape Definitives, A VFNH Single Showing Overgrown Plants Variety On DF Paper, Perf 12.5x12, Type 1, OP4 Tagging, Unlisted In Unitrade

A VFNH single of the 50c multicolored Seashore from the 1972-1977 Landscape Definitives showing overgrown plants variety on DF paper, perf 12.5x12, type 1, OP4 tagging, unlisted in unitrade.

The overgrown plant variety is when the foliage protrudes at UL due to a downward shift of the 15 deep blue. We know it isn't the gray-green that is shifted as the letters of 'Canada' are unaffected, and they woulld be if the green was shifted.

Unitrade values this at $10. The stamp offered here grades 80 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 50/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

We have listed the two or three colour shift varieties that can be found on each of the values in this issue. For some strange reason, Unitrade only listed, until recently those varieties related to the 15c and 25c values. They de-listed them in the 2023 edition of the catalogue on the grounds that they aren't constant. However, our position is that this was a poor decision because these varieties are visually striking and thus very much collectible in our opinion. They also are not anywhere near as common as one might think, making up between 5-10% of all the stamps printed for each major printing. For each of the varieties found on the 10c, 20c and 50c that were never listed in Unitrade, we have coined a name for the variety and explained what causes it. We have generally estimated most at between $5-$15 each, which is in line with what Unitrade valued them at before they de-listed them. The main varieties that exists on this value are the receding vegetation and the overgrown vegetation, that both come about from shifts of the grey-green colour, and as well there is the blue topped cliff, resulting from a downward shift of the beige.

The original OP-4 migratory tagging can be found in two colours: bluish white bars and yellow bars. The difference does not appear to be due to the migration, as non-migrated examples can be found of the faded, bluish white tagging, while the yellow bars are almost always migrated, but there are a few non-migrated examples. The scans show what the difference between migrated and non-migrated tagging looks like. Often, the migration makes the inks appear to be fluorescent, when they are not. Unitrade asserts that non-OP4 tagges stamps contaminated with the tagging are damaged stamps, which may lead one to conclude that migrated OP-4 stamps are defective, but such is not the case. Most OP4 stamps are fully or partially migrated at this point, some 50 years after they were issued, and very little migration will occur now.