Canada #673avar 8c Multicoloured 1975 Coastal Vessels, A VFNH Se-tenant Block of 4 on Unlisted LF/F Paper, Showing a Slight Leftward Shift of All Engraving, and Rightward Shifts of Slate and Olive Green

A VFNH se-tenant block of 4 from the 1975 Coastal Vessels Issue, printed on unlisted LF/F paper, showing a slight leftward shift of all the engraving, plus a rightward shift of the slate and olive green for Neptune and Beaver. 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, both Neptune and Beaver appear normally aligned, while both Wm D Lawrence and Quadra show the lines outlining the bow separated from the rest of the hull or bow. This suggests that rhw colours were each printed separately from different cylinders.

Unitrade does not list colour shifts and this paper type is at least as scarce as the HB paper. So our estimate of a reasonable value is $20. The block offered here grades 75 as follows:

Centering/Margins: 45/70

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10