Flowers checklist page
Flower Coil Start strips
Of the four flower coils that were
released at the end of December 2005, the 51c value has a "wavy line" die cut
to at the start and end of the rolls. The other three values were all cut
"straight" by some kind of scissor.The 89c value has just been found (mid
February 2006) with the same kind of "wavy line" die cut at the start and end
of the roll ... and, the end of the roll is affixed to the inside cardboard
tubing. We haven't seen this kind of affixing on the coils for a couple of
years.
Illustrated below is the wavy line die cut (on the 51c value) and straight
but on the 89c value.
Rate
Change Definitives
Four new Flower definitives and five new Flag Over ... definitives
are available for the rate change taking affect January 16, 2006.There are
a couple of "surprises".
Thankfully the 51c Flag Over... booklet has only one backing type (so far),
not the twenty-five different seen on the 50c values.
On the Flowers, the 89c coil is printed on F paper while all of the other
coils and booklet versions are on C paper ... odd.
4c Oyster Traditional Trades definitive
A reprint of the 4c Oyster Traditional Trades definitive has been found in the Ottawa area,
having a barcode in the selvedge.
This was expected, due to the pending rate change in January.
$1.45 Flower Coil - die cut 7
It was only a matter of time, but the $1.45 Flower coil has been found
in rolls of 50 with the new serpentine die cut 7 compared to the die
cut 8 1/2 on the original release.We reported earlier (back in February)
that all values of the Flower coils were found die cut 7 as single stamps in
the first quarterly pack.
What is more astounding is that the "0Lowe-Martin" inscription error is on
these new varieties!
Inscription Error
The $1.45 Flower coil has been found where the inscription, found in the
gutter every 10 stamps, has a "0" (zero) character added to the front
of the printer's name.
A picture is worth a thousand words...
Flower
Coil Inscriptions
TWO types of inscriptions exist on the original printings of
the three Flower coil definitives (i.e. the 'perf 8 1/2' version). The
difference is in the location of the paper designation and colour dots
compared to the inscription text.A picture is worth a thousand words...
It turns out that BOTH types of inscriptions have probably been around since the
stamps were first issued on Dec 20, 2004.
Notice that the "F above O" seems to have a bolder text font than the "F above
R" inscription.
Flower
Coil "perfs"
The 2005 Quarter 1 quarterly pack is now available and includes singles of each
of the 50c, 85c, and $1.45 coils.
These single stamps are serpentine die cut 6.8 directly through the stamp and the backing paper.
To date, only this kind of "perf" has been seen on the 50c and 85c values in
full rolls.
Another nice surprise in the quarterly packs.
Flower
Coil "perfs"
I'm not sure
what the 'normal' serpentine die cut value is for the 50c, 85c and $1.45
Flower coils?If you take any of the original printings of these stamps, you
will get various die cuts, ranging from 7.9 to 8.9! (and almost
every number in between).
They have been reprinted with a serpentine die cut 7 horizontal -
these started showing up in March 2005.
If you are counting
"peaks", the original had 9 or 10 peaks, the new perf has 8 peaks.
Be warned though - counting peaks is not the same as "perfing"
the stamp.
Top: original perf 8.6
Bottom: reprint perf 7
The boxes of 10 rolls that the coils are shipped in now have a UPC barcode
handstamped on the side of the box.
25c
Traditional Trades Definitive The 25c Trades definitive has been found reprinted. The only noticeable difference is
the orientation of the UPC barcode found in either the top or bottom selvedge of the pane.
The reprint has the barcode positioned upright, rather than inverted as found on the previous printing.
50c Rate Change Definitives
New rate-change definitives issued Dec 21/04:
The 50c Flag and Queen booklets each come with
FIVE different advertisements on the
cover.
In addition, the Flag booklet has two different rouletting patterns, similar to what has
been seen on the 49c booklets.
The gutters on the new coils indicate the printer and the paper! (finally).
Coil Reprint Rolls
As illustrated, the new 80c and $1.40 coil rolls can be found wound in two
different directions. Both rolls come either way.
49c Coil Reprinted AGAIN
Word just received (Nov 19/04) is that the 49c Leaf coil has been reprinted again, this time
with some design changes:
- blue sky is pale blue
- the extension of the green leaf in the lower right corner is diminished
(there seems to be less green overall)
- there are 3 little "nibs" of paper joining adjacent stamps (ie. the die
cutting does not run the straight through the full height of the stamps.
Unfortunately this does not show in the scan below.).
Coils Reprinted
The three current definitive coils (49c, 85c, $1.40) have finally shown up from their new
printers (see story below). Expected in late August, but not appearing until
September are the following reprints:
There are a number of differences between the original and reprints,
including:
- different die cutting
- NO gaps between the stamps along the roll
- the backing paper is NOT die cut making it very difficult to get a single
with backing paper
- gutters are 10 stamps apart (they were 23 apart on the original). These
gutters have coloured Maple Leafs (illustrated below).
- there are NO display cards for the reprints; a barcode appears on clear
adhesive tape surrounding the roll
Of noticeable interest is that the design of the 49c coil has changed slightly from the
original to the reprint, as illustrated below - notice the stem that extends to the right
on the original.
Reports from down east are that there are many constant varieties
(illustrations will appear when examples become available).
Printer
Change - Definitives Out of Stock
Through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, Ashton-Potter (who prints Canadian
stamps in the USA!) has lost its printing contract for definitives to two
Canadian companies in Ottawa: Lowe-Martin and Canadian Bank Note.As a result
of the transition of suppliers, Canada Post will have a shortage of domestic
coils of 100 and USA and international coils of 50 stamps.
This shortage is expected to last for a period of up to ten weeks (June to
August 2004).
Definitive booklet stamps printed by Ashton-Potter have been replaced by CBN
and LM (click here for details).
$5
Victoria Library Reprint Discovered
The $5 Victoria Public Library stamp was first issued February 29, 1996, printed by the Canadian Bank Note (sc#1378).
This stamp was replaced by the $5 Moose definitive that was issued December 19, 2003.
However, I recently discovered a new version of this stamp which can be traced
to being available as early as December 1998.
If you study, under a 10x magnifying glass, the screen angle of the lithographic colours (specifically, the black colour), there are TWO different printings, as illustrated below:
The yellow 'X' in both details shows that the screen angle of the black lithographic colour is clearly different on both stamps. [The light beige colour dots are also at different angles on the two printings but not nearly as pronounced as the black colour].
The earlier printing of the $5 Library stamp had a 'sharper/steeper' screen angle (about 38 degrees from horizontal) whereas the reprint (or second printing) had a much flatter screen angle (about 13 degrees from horizontal).
Coil Starter Strips
The start of each of the current roll of coils (49c/80c/$1.40 Leaf) has a new,
revised die cutting used to separate one roll from another.The initial
release of these stamps in December 2003 separated the rolls with a "straight"
cut. Starting in the spring of 2004, a "wavy" cut was seen.
Sometime in August or September 2004, these coils will be re-printed by a
Canadian stamp printer. Originally, these stamps were printed by Ashton-Potter
but they have lost their printing contract for definitive stamps (see
related story elsewhere on this page).
