Lot 14 Canada #481-i 5c Multicolored Rain Gauge, 1968 UN International Hydrological Decade, 5 VFNH Singles On HB/DF, HF/DF & NF/DF Papers With Some Shade Varieties

5 VFNH singles of the 5c multicolored Rain Gauge from the 1968 UN International Hydrological Decade on HB/DF, HF/DF & NF/DF papers with some shade varieties.

On HB/DF, HF/DF & NF grayish/DF papers with 3 shades of brown.

Unitrade values these at $7.05. The stamp 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

This and the Narwhal issue are the first to be printed by BABN instead of CBN. Unlike the other issues they printed, which were all comb perf 10, these two were line perf. 11. The paper used is a surfaced paper which usually appears DF or NF on the face, again tending very close to grey or violet. The back shows either a clean DF or LF appearance, or a dirtier one that contains a sparse concentation of brownish woodpulp flecks, which appear in Canadian stamp paper for the first time. They are only visible under UV for the most part, and they tend to dampen the perceived fluorescence. The next issue to utilize this paper is the 1970 UN issue. It is important to note that the so called HB paper is not really HB. It is closer to MF or HF. In terms of varieties, a few have turned up, but it is not known whetheror not they are constant. So further study will be required to settle this question definitively. I have done my best to capture these differences by taking pictures with my camera under UV light, but the differences can be harder to see than in real life. That should be borne in mind if you are looking at the scans and cannot tell the difference between them.