Lot 157 Canada #1713avar 45c 1998 Birds Of Canada Issue, A VFNH Se-Tenant Block Of 4 With Black Flies Variety On All 4 Stamps, Tertiary Or Constant, As I Saw The Identical Varieties On An FDC, But Thought It Was Cancel Spatter

A VFNH se-tenant block of 4 of the 45c multicoloured Hairy Woodpecker - Gray Crowned Rosy Finch from the 1998 Birds Of Canada Issue with black flies variety on all 4 stamps, tertiary or constant, as i saw the identical varieties on an FDC, but thought it was cancel spatter. The variety consists of clusters of stray black dots on the design, the most prominent of which is on the Eastern Screech Owl. However, the other three stamps all show between 2 and 3 stray dots in other parts of the design on each stamp. As explained in the title I did see this on one of my FDC's, but I couldn't be sure at the time that it wasn't ink spatter from the cancel. This block, which shows the identical varieties establishes that it is not resulting from ink spatter and is a legitimate variety. We don't know if it is tertiary or constant though. More study of full panes would be required to establish whether or not it is a constant or tertiary variety. The issues of this period are printed in much smaller panes, which likely means many panes in the layout, increasing the probability of tertiary varieties.

Unitrade does not list these varieties, but our estimate of the value is $20. The block 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