Lot 53 Canada #558,i 7c Black Pierre Laporte, 1971 Pierre Laporte, 4 VFNH Inscription Pairs With Different LF Backed Vertically Ribbed Papers

4 VFNH inscription pairs of the 7c black Pierre Laporte from the 1971 Pierre Laporte with different LF backed vertically ribbed papers. The lot includes;
• DF1/LF3
• DF2/LF3
• DF2/LF4-fl, bluish paper, LF+MF sparse
• DF1/LF4-fl bluish paper, sparse LF+MF flecks

Unitrade values these at $17.4. The pairs offered here grade between 75 and 84 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 45/70, 50/70, 54/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10

The Pierre Laporte stamp is the next most complicated stamp for paper varieties from this period. It is the debut of the vertical ribbed chalk-surfaced paper. Curiously though, unlike the Landscape definitives, which were almost always NF/DF or NF/NF, this stamp was almost exclusively LF on the front and fluorescent on the back. In fact, this stamp is perfect for giving you a solid grounding in the fluorescence levels from 0 to 9, as all of these levels can be found on this stamp. So, it covers the entire range from non-fluorescent to high fluorescent. Unitrade lists only two fluorescent grades: F and dull. It isn't clear from Unitrade's listings whether they mean the front and back or just the front. However, from examining all the different fluorescent varieties and noting those which are most common, we would suggest that F covers all front readings between DF2 and LF4, while the dull covers front readings from DF1. True NF on the front is rarely seen, and is worth much more than the $4 quoted for dull paper.