Lot 17 Canada #519-521, 523 5c Multicolored Santa Claus/Snowmen & Christmas Tree, 1970 Christmas Issue, 4 VFNH Vertical Pairs On HB11 Smooth Papers

4 VFNH vertical pairs of the 5c multicolored Santa Claus/Snowmen & Christmas Tree from the 1970 Christmas Issue on HB11 smooth papers.

Vertical pairs only come from the centre two rows of an unfolded sheet. There were two possible sets, one on each side of the centre block. The 5th pair would be a part of the center block, and so a set of 4 pairs, consisting of the other 4 designs. We estimate it at half the value of an untagged centre block.

Our estimate of the value is $20. The pairs offered here grade 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 issue is easily the best of the sale in terms of complexity and depth to offer the collector. It uses the same general paper type as the 6c Isle of Spruce issue. There are generally 4 typer of this paper. Two of these are ribbed vertically, while the other two are smooth. The fluorescence level is generally always HB 11 or HB 12, but some weaker HB stamps or MF stamps can also be found. We are offering a lot of constant varieties on these issues that are not listed in Unitrade, nor in the Canadian Philatelist article that appeared in 2020 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the issue. You should be able to find most of tthese in a series of articles published by Philabec. Although some of the varieties are smaller than the ones illustrated and priced in Unitrade, there is generally no reason to value or price these ones differenly from the listed varieties. Unitrade states that there are over 1,000 varieties on this issue, which sounds high. But in going through my stock, I generally only came across a variety every 30 stamps or so. So, this suggests that the print layout must have consisted of 25 sheets, printed 10 times each to yield 1,000 varieties. Consequently I am estimating untagged errors at $5 each, and tagged varieties at $7.50 each.