MODERN PRECANCEL ERRORS

There does not appear to be a large number of overprinting errors related to modern precancels and many that do exist seem to be very scarce or rare.  For example for all KG VI and QE II issues there are only three doubles and one triple in the bar styles V,W,X and Y.  One is the one cent green coil from 1937, V-238-D and another KGVI, the X-255-D 5 cent blue War issue; the others are the 1973 Pearson 6 cent caricature:  Y-591-D and Y-591-T this latter being a new find just prior to the publication of the 6^th edition.  It was listed and sold as a double but on closer inspection was clearly an unlisted triple.

A total of 456 MOON items are listed in the CPCC.  There were doubles and inverts in the older issues but there is only one known double in the KGVI era, Toronto 15-249-D, the green one cent war issue from 1942.  I assume that this lack of doubles in this era indicates more sophisticated and automated printing equipment which relies much less on human intervention, however I have no specific details on equipment used during this time period and whether it was more modern and reliable than used previously.  Chapter 2 of the CPCH is interesting but of little help regarding equipment used particularly in more recent years.  This lack of errors may also be a result of improved quality control though the availability of other types of errors indicates that QA was far from perfect.  Chapter 2 of the CPCH hints that the relatively large numbers of doubles that are available from older issues, in particular Admirals, were the result of an active policy by the Agency to create these items for collectors.  I do not believe this to be the case since many of the doubles and combinations etc are clearly a result of mis-feeding of sheets which was fairly common in paper printing.  Additionally, if it had been a successful marketing plan to sell more stamps, why would it suddenly stop?  What is more likely is that under different circumstances these “errors” might have been thrown in the trash by the Post Office but they found a market and decided to sell the “errors”.

Most modern precancel errors relate to other manufacturing issues rather than the precanceling process. 

Types of known modern errors on precancelled stamps are:

Misperforated stamps [horizontal and vertical]

Colour shifts and partial colour shifts

Pre-print paper crease

During-print paper crease

Offsets on gum: both precancel offsets and stamp offsets

Tagging errors: one bar tag, tag missing

Imperf top margin

Warning legend missing

Warning legend printed on stamps not selvage

Printed on gum side

Although modern PC errors are mostly very scarce to unique, a few being more common such as X-326 2 cent green misperf which is reasonably easy to acquire and is known on cover.

                                                                               

Also the George VI Vancouver 6-249 can be found misperf but is much scarcer.

 

Pre-printing paper creases are not common but can be found and I normally buy any I see.

Tagging errors can be found and are fairly easy to acquire as single stamps but as multiples they are scarcer and are priced accordingly.

 

Color shifts and partial color shifts can be found on the Floral definitives of 1977:

 

Also on Y-591 Pearson 6 cent and Y-714 Parliament 12 cent as shown below.  Only one sheet of each was found.

Precancel offsets where the PC overprint is printed on reverse on the gum side of a stamp are not common but can be found:

 

                                                                           Woodstock 2-195-D with same double on gum side

                                       Montreal 4-119-ID with Kitchener style 1 double invert on gum

I know of only one example of a precancelled stamp, X-338, with the stamp [without precancel] offset on the reverse and it is shown below:

The rarest and probably most important error is the Y 705 one cent Gentian floral definitive printed on the gummed side.  Only one sheet was produced and only four corner blocks of four appear to have survived according to Canada’s leading dealer in modern errors.  What happened to the other 84 stamps is a mystery.  Perhaps they will turn up one day.

 

Printed on gum side

 

Another rare item is the misperf and imperf at top margin Karsh 329 5 cent blue.  Only two or three sheets are known and have been broken down into upper warning strip block of 20 including plate block and then various other combinations of misperforates including singles and blocks of various sizes.  One warning strip has survived intact; others may have been cut up for resale since Unitrade lists a single at $500.

There are three sheets of Borden 3 cent brown catalogue number Y-588 which are known without warning legend at left.  The PC print is shifted left 7 mm and the RH warning is not in the selvage but on the RH column of stamps.  It would be interesting to find an example on cover with part of the warning strip on the stamp.  I have a pane of 100 showing both errors and below is a scan of the top three rows.

I personally enjoy these minor and major errors.  They are rare, visually arresting and have survived against all odds.  If any collector has additional errors to share I will gladly add to the article.