Lot 90 Canada #E2var 20c Carmine American Bank Note Company, 1922 Special Delivery Issue, A Fine Used Single, Dry Printing With 5 Hole OHMS Position E

A fine used single of the 20c carmine American Bank Note Company from the 1922 Special Delivery Issue, dry printing with 5 hole OHMS position E.

Our estimated value is $200. The stamp offered here grades 70 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 30/60

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

Cancellation: 10/10

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All of the 5-hole OHMS perfins were originally listed and priced in Unitrade, until a number of them were de-listed last year. This was done at the recommendation of the BNAPS study group, whose members felt that because they couldn't satisfy themselves that these items were officially issued, that the items in question had to be forgeries. My personal feeling is that this was a highly irresponsible move, and that they should have left them in the catalogue with a cautionary note, rather than removing them. The circumstances of the 5-hole OHMS overprint's issuance is such that I consider their move to be misguided as well. The 5-hole perfins were issued at the Department of Finance on an as needed basis only. Anyone who has worked in an office environment knows that the correct procedures are often not followed, and the rules are bent all the time, and that in most of these instances, there is no record kept. Therefore they are not like other stamp issues that are planned and designed, with every step of the process being documented. I would submit that as expert as the members of the BNAPS study group are, that none of them were alive and at the Department when these stamps were being produced, and that therefore, while they can see that a specific item is fake, because they compare it to a genuine perfin, they cannot assert, with any certainty that a certain stamp cannot exist with the perfin, as any stamp in use at that time could have been perforated. The fact that many have never been seen by the members of the group, does not by itself, prove that such an item does not or cannot exist. All the 5-Hole perfins offered here were bought from reputable dealers who are knowledgable in this area, and so there is no compelling reason to think that any of them are not authentic.