The 1954-1962 Wilding Issue and the medium value and high value industry definitives that appeared between 1952 and 1956, and were in use right up to the Centennial period in 1967, are my all time favourite Elizabethan issues of Canada. Unfortunately, this is not a view that has been shared by the collecting public at large. That, I believe, is a function of the fact that the designs are very simple, and follow the minimalism of the 1950's. But, this can have its advantages when it comes to philatelic study, as the stamps become much easier to study, because you can mentally separate the designs into their components and can then become familar with each one, so that you will be able to readily identify varieties when they do come up.
One of the things that I do like about this issue is that it is NOT beset by tons and tons of plate flaws and varieties. For the most part, the stamps were very well printed, and you can go through thousands of stamps and not find any plate varieties. While this might seem boring and disappointing to many collectors, to me it simply heightens the thrill when you discover a freak variety or something truly spectacular, and such items do come up from time to time.
In collecting this issue, the key to unlocking the complexity and to forming a full and comprehensive study lies in collecting and studying the plate blocks. The reason, is that they are the only way you can chronicle the printings and put them in date order. Also, there are many splendid shade varieties to be found, as well as several varieties of paper, other than fluorescence varieties that can be collected and studied. While it is indeed possible to study singles of this issue, the plate blocks are readily available and affordable, and they make comparing and contrasting much easier, and thus the varieties present better when you arrange a series of blocks on a page.
Many collectors have grown up with the idea that there is no philatelic significance to plate blocks. However, this is not true of this period, as the blocks contain markings, which will prove invaluable to identifying different printings. The stamps were printed continuously over their life, and the plates used were only replaced when they wore out. In addition, several plates were often employed all at once for the same printings. You can see this when you compare the shades, papers and gum types, as the same characteristics will be found to predominate a small group of plates. Conversely, there can be many printings that employ the same plate, so while there may be up to 20 plates of some values, there were many, many more than 20 printings over an eight year period.
Let's take a quick look at a typical lower left plate block from this issue:
As you can see, apart from the plate inscription, there are three other pieces of information on this block:
- A plate dot - this is a small dot that often appears in different locations on the selvedge. Most often, they are found on the lower left blocks, at the lower right of the selvedge, or on the lower right blocks, at the lower left. However, on some blocks they can be found on the sides. The size of the dots can vary, and occasionally they can be found in pairs on some printings. Studies that have been conducted have suggested that these dots are added by the printer to denote new major printings. This would appear to be correct, as we have seen some blocks from a particular plate that show different configurations of these dots, suggesting different printings.
- The plate number - denoted by "No", a dash underneath the "o" and either a space, or another dash between two spaces, and then the number. Some blocks have been seen with the dash between "No" and the plate number, while others show just a space with no dash. This is one aspect that deserves a good dedicated study to identify all the types that exist.
- The print order number - these numbers were discontinued in the late 1950's and the significance of them is not fully understood as to the sequencing of the numbers. But we have seen spacing varieties involving the numbers themselves, with some having the numerals very close together, and others where there is considerable space between the numerals. Again, identifying all the print order numbers that can be found is a study that needs to be undertaken, with a view to answering the most obvious question: are there plates that have more than one order number?
The order number only appears on the lower left block, and only until the use of order numbers were discontinued. All three other positions contain only the inscription and the plate number, as well as the plate dots, where they are to be found.
After you have been collecting these blocks for a while you will begin to notice a difference between the earlier blocks printed from the low plate numbers, which are generally below 10 and those printed from the higher plates, which usually start at 13 for most values except the 1c. If you look at the block above, you will see that the plate inscription is quite close to the inner perforations of the selvedge. On the blocks of the higher plates you will see that the imprints are located near the edge of the selvedge, away from the stamps. The plate dots are usually much smaller on these blocks and are often found on the sides, as well as the bottom selvedge.
One other nice aspect of this issue, if you find paper fluorescence confusing is that there are not a lot of fluorescent variations, and those that can be found tend to be quite obvious and easy to identify. So, if you prefer a more old-school style of philately, and would prefer to just casually dip your toe into the field of paper fluorescence, this issue is an excellent choice, and will not overwhelm you.
Collecting the Plate Blocks - What to Look For
In collecting and studying the plate blocks, you want to look at four things:
- What paper is it on?
- Does it have plate dots, and if so, where?
- What shade is it printed in?
- Is the paper fluorescent? If not, what colour does it appear under short-vave UV?
Paper Types
Unitrade barely gets into this, but does identify two basic papers:
- Horizontal ribbed, which corresponds to the low plates, and
- Vertical ribbed, which corresponds to the higher plates.
The problem, I find with Unitrade's nomenclature is that there are many low plate printings on paper that looks quite smooth, and there are also printings on very deeply ribbed paper, while other ribbed papers show only light ribbing. Also, the effect on the back of the ribbing varies also. There are printings of the vertical ribbed paper that are completely smooth. So, these two categories oversimplify things quite a bit.
In actual fact, for the low plates, I have found five types of paper:
- Very strongly ribbed on both sides. This paper has ribbing that can easily be seen without having to tilt the block to a light source.
- Horizontal ribbed on the front and back.
- Horizontal ribbed on the front, but smooth on the back.
- Smooth on both sides.
On the high plates, the same kind of variations can be found, only this time any ribbing runs vertically, rather than horizontally.
If you study the progression of paper types found on the various plates you will see that they tend to follow a progression in that the early plates will tend to be ribbed on both sides. As the plates get to the mid-point of the low numbers you will begin to see more and more blocks that are smooth on the front, and either ribbed on back (most) or smooth on the back as well. Finally the very last of the low plates are almost always on completely smooth paper. There are exceptions though, such as plate 1 printings on smooth paper. This is where it may be possible to establish that some scarce variations exist. I've never studied them comprehensively enough to look at the incidences of the different types to know which ones are the scarce ones, though it would seem that smooth paper printings from plate numbers below 5 or 6 are much less common than the ribbed ones.
Plate Dots
As I said before, the plate dots are usually only found on lower left or lower right positions, for the Wilding designs, However, on the higher values you can find them on blocks from all four positions. Sometimes you will see more than one dot, and other times you will see that the placement of the dots varies. These differences do have a significance, and finding out what they mean should be an important goal to any aspiring specialist of this issue.
Shades
The range of shades that can be found on this issue rivals that of the King George V admiral issue. At first, this may not seem to be the case, but that is likely only because you have not seen the more outstanding variations that can be found. The 4c violet and 5c blue are particularly good for finding shades, followed by the 2c, and 10c Inuk and Kayak. The other values have between 2 and 3 shade varieties each, and I find plate blocks overlapped are the best way to see them clearly.
Fluorescence
The default level of fluorescence is DF or NF. I find that most of the earlier low plates are DF, with some glowing a bluish white that comes very close to low fluorescent, but not quite. Within the DF distinction you can find light violet, bluish white, greyish white and ivory colours. The later plates above 10 tend to be either NF or some level of fluorescence that varies from low to hibrite, though it is important to note that hibrite on this issue is much less bright than it is on the later Centennials or issues after that period. Usually the fluorescence is derived from the presence of fluorescent fibres in the paper, as opposed to an overall even ambient level of fluorescence.
Beyond the Plate Blocks
Once you form a complete study of the plate blocks, including checking all the perforations to see what measurements they are between 11.85 and 12.15, it is time to look at collecting other aspects of this issue, which include:
- Full sheets - difficult on the high values and the Winnipeg tagged issues, though come to think of it I cannot remember the last time I saw a complete set of the earlier 1954 printings of the 1c to 6c in full sheets either.
- Postal stationery - some difficult private order envelopes to look for.
- Die proofs and essays - all very scarce.
- Errors - not a lot of them on this issue, but all of them are quite scarce and expensive.
- The few plate flaws that exist.
- Coils and all the associated varieties, including start and end strips and repair paste-ups, jumps, etc.
- First day covers with all the different cachets.
- Postal history, including rate differences and mail to troubled parts of the world during this time.
- Town CDS cancels from each province.
This is just a taste of what you can do with this issue. As you can see, there are limitless possibilities, and nearly all of them are within reach of a collector on a very limited budget.