Canada #673aivar 8c Multicoloured 1975 Coastal Vessels, A VFNH Se-tenant Block of 4 on DF/DF Paper, Showing the "Grey Bow" Variety and Slight Leftward Shift of All Engraving

A VFNH se-tenant block of 4 from the 1975 Coastal Vessels Issue, printed on DF/DF paper, showing the "grey bow" variety on Wm. D Lawrence, and a slight leftward shift of all the engraving. Normally on this issue, the engraving lines outlining the bow and stern of each ship lie more or less on the outline of the coloured hull. Minor shifts in either the colours, the engraving, or both, that are under 0.5 mm are not that uncommon, but shifts 0.5 mm or greater are scarcer. The nature of the shifts are interesting, because they give some clues as to how the issue was printed. For example, the engraving was printed separately from the colour, and was done all at once, as evidenced by the fact that a shift of the engraving usually affects all stamps equally. Where this is not the case, it is usually because one of more of the colours has shifted in the opposite direction. In this lot, the grey bow variety is so called, because the dark brown on the Wm D Lawrence stamp is actually composed of two layers of colour: grey underneath and then dark brown. These are printed in different cylinders, as a shift involving the brown cylinder reveals the grey underneath.

Unitrade does not list colour shifts. So our estimate of a reasonable 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