Canada #337p(var) 1c Chocolate Queen Elizabeth II, 1954-1962 Wilding Issue, Upper Left Blank Winnipeg Tagged Blocks of 4, Three Different, Various Perfs., DF Gr Vertically Ribbed Paper, Streaky Semi Gloss Gum, Light Yellow Tagging, Crooked Perfs., VFNH

Three different VFNH upper left blank Winnipeg tagged blocks of 4 of the 1c chocolate Queen Elizabeth II stamp from the 1954-1962 Wilding Issue. Various perfs., including 11.95 x 12, 11.95 and 12 x 11.95 and printed on DF Gr Vertically ribbed paper. Streaky semi- gloss gum. The Winnipeg tagged stamps for this value are all printed on horizontal wove paper. Some of the printings are on paper that shows clear vertical ribbing on the back, while others are printed on smooth paper. The paper varies in terms of it's reaction under UV light, with dull fluorescent greyish, greyish white, or bluish white being most common. Sometimes a slightly darker non-fluorescent brownish paper can be found.

The intensity of the taggant varies from heavy, which appears deep yellow in normal light, to lightly applied, which appears almost invisible to the naked eye in normal light. Under UV light the heavily applied tagging appears to fluoresce light yellow, whereas the lightly applied tagging appears bluish white. This difference could be more of an optical illusion due to the difference in the concentration of the taggant chemical used, or it could represent a real difference in the chemical formula of the taggant compound used. Which of these two it is, is not yet clear.

The gum generally varies from cream to yellow in colour, and the sheen varies from a satin sheen to a semi-gloss sheen. The gum can also appear either smooth or streaky.

For some strange reason there were problems encountered with the alignment of the perforating pins for some of the printings of these stamps made from the higher plate numbers on the vertically ribbed (horizontal wove) paper. Quite often you can find multiples showing clear misalignment of the perforations relative to one another. The blocks in this lot all show this misalignment in the first vertical column of perforations. This issue was later corrected, but these blocks show quite nicely the problems that were experienced with the perforating of these printings. The grade of these blocks varies from VF-75 to VF-80. Unitrade values these blocks in these grades at $27.