Lot 96 Canada #BK48bB 1954 Wildlife Issue, A Complete 25c Bilingual Booklet With 5c Blue, One Pane Of 5+Label, Front cover IIIh, Back Cover Mi, Type II Cover, Horizontal Ribbed Paper, Stitched Cover, Dot Varieties & Break In Textbox To Left Of 'Cinq'

A complete 25c bilingual booklet from the 1954 Wildlife Issue, with 5c blue, one pane of 5+label, front cover IIIh, back cover Mi, type II cover. Horizontal ribbed paper, stitched cover, dot varieties & break in textbox to left of 'cinq'. The dots are at the UR of shield and on the inner frameline of shield. Our best estimate of the value of this booklet is $10.

The booklet offered here grades 80 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 50/70

Cover Freshness: 10/10

Condition of Cover Edges: 5/5

Freshness of the Panes: 5/5

Absence of Visible Cover Flaws or Stains: 5/5

Condition of Interleaving and Contents: 5/5

BK 48 is the very first commemorative booklet, and is incredibly complex due to four factors: (1) as with other bilingual booklets there are five cover types; (2) all types can be found with panes printed on both smooth and the usual horizontal ribbed paper that is often found on the early 1950's issues; (3) the booklets are found both stapled with a 16 mm staple and stitiched; (4) die pattern joins can be found on the front and back covers and (5) an number of constant varieties can be found on the front covers from type IIIh. Some of these varieties appear to have been corrected and diappear for good, but others disappear on this issue only to reappear on BK49, which begs the question as to whether or not they are actually different types of cover, as opposed to constant varieties. This was only issued bilingual in a quantity of 2,004,000 English booklets and 101,500 stiched booklets.
There are 7 constant varieties that can be found on the front cover type IIIh and one that can be found on the back cover. The back cover variety that can be found consists of a small arc-like projection that runs downward from the middle of the text box on the back. On the front cover, the scarcest variety consists of a break on the scroll below "Canada", and a break in the text box above "Five". The most common varieties are a dot on the inside frameline of the shield at lower right, and a dot to the upper right of the shield. These usually appear together on certain front cover IIIh. In additoon, these same covers can also be found with a small break in the text box to the left of "cinq", or with a notch at this position. Ocasionally a break can also be found in the arched ornament that surrounds the crown on the sheild. Some attempts were made to repair these flaws, as examples of this booklet can be found showing the dot to the right of the shield being removed by retouch. The other frame breaks appear to have either been repaired or disappeared on their own. The dot inside the sheild on the inner frameline is the only variety that does not appear to have been noticed or retouched.