Canada #490-I,var 6c Black, Bright Blue and Carmine Curlers On Rink, 1969 Curlers, 3 VFNH Singles On LF-fl Bluish White, DF Yellowish Gray & DF Grayish White Papers, Lopsided Label Variety

3 VFNH singles of the 6c black, bright blue and carmine Curlers On Rink from the 1969 Curlers on LF-fl bluish white, DF yellowish gray & DF grayish white papers, lopsided label variety.

The lopsided label is represented by blue of 6 and red of Canada are out of alignment. The stamps include: LF-fl bluish white, sparse LF & very sparse MF & very few HF fibers, DF yellowish gray & DF grayish white papers.

Unitrade values these at $6.25 for normal. Our estimate of the value is $15. The stamps offered here grade between 75 and 80 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 45/70, 50/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

The curling issue is the fourth of the experimental perf 10 issues printed by BABN. The paper is generally always DF or is very moderatey flecked with a few HF or HB fibres. Greyish and greyish white are the default colours under UV, with bright cream, ivory and deep NF violet grey being the uncommon types. The so-called fluorescent paper on the Curling issue is really not much brighter than other flecked examples of any of the other perf. 10 BABN issues like this issue, George Brown, or the Lacrosse stamp. My experience is that any fluorecent paper on these issues os much, much scarcer than the dull papers, easily by a margin of 20 to 1. So, I would disagree with Unitrade's classification of the dull paper being the better stamp on the 1969 Curling issue. 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. The Massey stamp shows similar variations to the John McCrae issue, in terms of the way the paper appears under long wave UV light.