Canadian Philately - The Stamps and Postal History of Canada 1851 to Present by Brixton Chrome

Today, I start to examine the integral booklets that were produced for this issue. They are called "integral" because the booklet covers were a single piece of cardstock, which was folded, and the booklet panes were glued onto the cover using the tab of the pane, rather than being either stapled or stitched. They were also significant as they were the very first time that se-tenant combinations of different designs and denominations were to appear in the same booklet pane. The printing technology required to accomplish this was in the hands of the British American Bank Note Company (BABNC) rather than the CBN. So the introduction of these booklets marks a unique period in Canadian stamp production in which two different printing firms collaborated to produce a Canadian stamp issue. Prior to this, every issue of Canadian stamps was printed by one firm or another, but never two firms at the same time. These booklets are also interesting in the sense that they are the first bo…

Today's post will delve into some of the more prominent constant plate flaws and varieties that are known to collectors of this issue. I will attempt to provide a high resolution scan of each flaw where I can, describe the flaw and provide its location as to plate and sheet position. In instances where I do not have an example, and cannot find an image, I will provide a description, and will add an image later, when one becomes available.

1c Northern Lights and Dogsled Team - Airplane in Sky


This variety is found on selected 25c booklets printed by the BABN that contained the 1c, 6c and 8c stamps, that were first issued on December 30, 1971. It is constant in the sense, that it is always found on the same stamp when it occurs: the 1c stamp from the middle row of the booklet. It is quite a prominent variety, being visible to the naked eye, without a magnifying glass. However, it is not found on every example of the 25c booklets that were printed, but only on a few printings. It con…