Phil pages July-Aug-Final - The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada

Charter of Rights 36-cent
It is a fully imperforate error. The catalogue
reported that only one sheet of this
error is known i.e., only twelve pairs
exist. An illustration of this error is
shown above.
Flag Stamp
45-cent stamp errors
In 1999, Gary J. Lyon (Philatelist)
Ltd. reported the discovery of major
errors on the 45-cent definitive stamp.
This definitive is from the Canadian
Flag series which was first issued in
1989. The national flag on postage
stamps has been printed by most countries
and is viewed primarily as a symbol
of individuality and identity. The white
and red Maple Leaf design was accepted
as the official flag of Canada on Feb.
15,1965. It appeared for the first time on
a Canadian postage stamp on June 30,
1965 and later on the Centennial stamp
issued on Jan. 11, 1967.
The present 45-cent flag error stamp
(Scott catalogue numbers 1797b-e) was
printed in a new format and size for the
Above is a Type 1
Imperforate
Left is a Type 2
Double Impression
Below is a Type 3
Imperforate Gutter
first time. It was printed, in sheets of 120
with a gutter dividing the five columns,
by Canadian Bank Note Co. on Coated
Paper. The stamp was perforated with a
perforation gauge of 13.3 by 13 and the
gum used was PVA.
Information on this error was sent
to me in a letter by Mr. Lyon stating:
“Recently a new major error of the 45
flag design regular issue was found in
the Montreal area. Three gutter sheets
of 120 stamps were discovered. Each
sheet yields 60 pairs making a total of
180 pairs possible.” What is interesting
about this error (or errors) is that
it contains four major varieties, namely:
1) Fully imperforate; 2) Fully
imperforate gutter pairs; 3) Double
impression on some of the imperforate
stamps; 4) Double impression on
some of the gutter imperforate
stamps. Illustrations of three of these
errors are shown below.
1994 Christmas stamp errors
Christmas stamps have now become a
tradition since the current series began in
1964. It should, however, be noted that
the first Canadian stamp bearing the
Xmas message was in 1898 on the
Imperial Penny Postage stamp. The present
postage errors were reported on the
1994 Christmas stamps (Scott catalogue
numbers 1534 and 1535). The 50-cent
and the 88-cent stamps were printed by
Canadian Bank Note on Peterborough
paper and designed by John Pylypczak
and Diti Katona with the illustration by
Nina Berkson.
In September, I received a letter from
Gary J. Lyon indicating that he had
received a letter from Mr. Holmes from
Halifax, Nova Scotia. The letter stated
that Mr. Holmes has a complete sheet of
fifty of the 1994 Christmas Choir with
the wrong denomination. Instead of
having the 50-cent denomination it had
the 52-cent denomination. Further, it
was printed on Coated Paper. A complete
description of this story appears in the
Nov.-Dec. 1998 The Canadian Philatelist.
Three sheets of fifty were noted to have
been sold to Mr. Holmes in a flea market
in Nova Scotia. Mr. Lyon also reported
that later he was approached by another
seller in Florida with another three sheets
and that he believed that it came from the
same source, via a circuitous route. Mr.
Lyon states “We are now pretty sure that
the flea market seller sold at least five
sheets to people other than Mr. Holmes
that day. Some of these were likely used
for postage.”
Besides the wrong denomination
appearing on the 50-cent Christmas
stamp, the wrong value also appears on
the 88-cent Christmas stamp. In this
case, the value 90-cent appears on the
Christmas stamp of the same series. See
the illustrations hereafter of these four
stamps.
50-cent Normal 52-cent Error 88-cent Normal 90-cent Error
The reason why these errors have
appeared is because Canada Post was
lobbying the Government for a rate
increase in 1994 from 43-cent, 50-cent
and 88-cent to 45-cent, 52-cent and 90-
cent respectively; and in anticipation,
the Post Office ordered stamps with
these new values. When the proposed
rate increase was not approved the original
values had to be printed. How the
stamps with the new values got into the
hands of private collectors is not
known. If the above theory is right,
should one expect to find a similar error
with the 45-cent on the 43-cent?
Perhaps! They probably will appear in
the market in the next few years, if they
exist. While there is hardly any doubt
that these stamps are genuine, one matter
that bothers me is that if the government
did not officially sell them over
the post office counter whether the possession
of them is illegal and whether
the RCMP can seize them from their
owner.
156 / July – August 2000 The Canadian Philatelist / Le philatéliste canadien