I have a block of 4 of these mint with what to me is difficult to see gum......can anyone inform me if they were issued with matt gum and if that was the normal gum for that period?
I do not have either my Scott or Gibbons at hand at the moment so would welcome being informed of the current catalogue value as well.
There were three(3) issues for this stamp. The first was issued Jan 10, 1983 on
Abitibi -Price paper (plate 1) with clear gum (single $12.50, Plate Block $62.50). The second issued Dec 14, 1984 on Clark paper (Plate 2) with clear gum (single $15.00, Plate Block $75.00). The third issued Aug 30, 1985 (Plate 3) with blue-green tinged gum (single $20.00, Plate Block $90.00). All prices are Canadian dollars from 2014 Unitrade catalogue.
If your block is not a plate block use the single price times 4.
While the Harrison paper is easy to distinguish from the Clark and Abitibi-Price paper, due to its greenish tint, the last two are a little harder.
Below is a scan of the Abitibi-Price and Clark paper. The Abitibi-Price is a little smoother, while the Clark has a bit of a texture, horizontally and vertically. This I.D. of course is only good for mint stamps.
Both stamps were printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company, but the perforation holes appear smaller in diameter on the stamp with the Clark paper. I am not sure yet if this is significant, I do not have enough copies of either stamp.
