Lot 99 Canada #131ii 1c Myrtle Green (Blue Green) King George V, 1911-1928 Admiral Coil Issue, A Fine NH Gripper Coil Single, Break In Left Numeral Box at LL, Perf 12 Horizontal, Retouched Frameline

A fine NH gripper coil single of the 1c myrtle green (blue green) King George V from the 1911-1928 Admiral Coil Issue, break in left numeral box at LL, perf 12 horizontal. The gripper coils were just added into Unitrade recently. They are singles or pairs that have been punched with two pinholes near the top of the design, as a result of being fed through a particular type of coil dispesing machine that was in use during the life of the issue. Unitrade only prices them on cover, but they should have the same value as the normal coils. Presumably Unitrade's reasoning for not listing them off cover is that the pinholes could easily be faked, though with no catalogue listing until recently and no price difference it is difficult to imagine why anyone would fake them, The holes are in the exact place they are normally found on these, so we have no reason to belive that it is anything other than genuine.

Unitrade values this at $26.25 for a normal coil single. The stamp offered here grades 68 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 40/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 8/10

Unitrade's treatment of the Admiral issue is quite simplified in the sense that only the broad shade groups are listed, and the retouched frameline is only listed on a few values, even though most of the first colours of each value can be found with both retouched frame and normal frame in the upper right spandrel of the design. In terms of shades, what we have done is to sort the stamps into each identifiable shade, name them using the Gibbons Stamp Colour Key and then attempt to assign each shade to one of the groups listed in Unitrade. This is fairly easy to do when you have all the shades identified and laid next to one another. The difference between the retouched and redrawn frameline is another source of confusion for many collectors. Basically, the normal frame, from the early printings has horizontal shading lines that terminate in a uniform straight line, with no vertical line connecting them. The retouched frameline is a light vertical line which has been added to join all the horizontal shading lines. It is generally only found on wet printings. The re-drawn frameline on the other hand is a thicker, heavier line and is only found on dry printings.