I had the good fortune of purchasing a booklet of Canada 1360n stamps in ~1995 that included the so-called 'snowflake variety'. The scan below shows the 2 stamps out of the booklet with the 'snowflakes'.
My 2000 Unitrade Specialized Catalogue of Canadian Stamps says on p.321 "The so-called 'snowstorm' variety: When some booklets are opened, Stray spots of glue on the cover adhere to the printed face of the stamps. Ink is removed by the glue, leaving spots of 'snow'. These are damaged stamps."
I agree that these stamps are not a variety as the 'snowflakes' are not in constant positions on the stamps, but are rather positioned randomly on the stamps (as snowflakes should be
). However, I disagree with characterizing them as damaged stamps. As far as I am aware, no other Canadian stamps are known to have the same problem. I would rather characterize the stamps as errors, the error resulting from the stray spots of glue on the inside of the booklet cover. In my opinion, this is a situation similar to misprinted stamps due to folds or other paper problems - those are not referred to as damaged stamps, but rather as errors.
What are your thoughts on this question?
Posted 04/29/2015 4:56 pm
