Canada #705-711var 1c-10c Multicoloured Wildflowers, 1977-1985 Floral & Environment Issue, A VF Canada Post Official FDC Franked With Combination, DF Envelope, Showing Colour Shift On 3c and 5c, DF Envelope

A VF Canada Post official FDC of the 1c-10c multicoloured Wildflowers from the 1977-1985 Floral & Environment Issue franked with combination, DF envelope, showing colour shift on 3c and 5c, DF envelope. The 3c stamp shows a slight leftward shift of the brown engraving, as evidenced by the fact that the "3" nearly touches the inner left frameline. The 5c shows a significant upward shift of the dark brown engraving, in that the "5" touches the inner frameline at the top. The DF envelopes appear to be the standard ones for these issues, with the fluorescent envelopes being less common. The fluorescence of the envelopes is an important characteristic that has been ignored by all the catalogues. Why does it matter? Because the envelope is an integral component of the FDC in the same way that a cover would be to a complete booklet, or the cardboard insert would be to a pack of plate blocks. The expectation, and general observation would be that Canada Post would utilize one type of envelope for a particular issue, so that if a different one from the standard type is found, then there is a good chance that it will be scarce, and is therefore, in our opinion collectible.

Unitrade does not list this variety. Our estimate of the value is $5.