Canadian Stamp Production In The Post-1937 - Pre Self-Adhesive Period

Quoting Adminware as to the National Parks:

http://adminware.ca/checklist/chk_env_park.htm






Is this explanation for the difference between BABN and CBN enough???? And what about the two plates for CBN?? Just the papers?

CBN:



BABN:




How to tell them apart?!?!

BABN:





CBN:






Inscriptions more pronounced!!!!

Crude "hit the nail" recess by CBN!

As judged by the colour, the first from the left is BABN?!

SO not only the colours,but also the thickness of the "-" in"A".... And of course the "hitting nails"!

The BABN did have a couple of very good engravers George Gundersen (1910-1975) and Charles Gordon Yorke (1917 – 1980)who were mainly banknote engravers.

The CBN of course had Yves Baril (*1932) who IMO was the best
Canadian stamp engraver.
Baril also worked on some banknotes over the years.



The engraved portions of those high values in the seventies and eighties was minimal and usually there is no engraver on record.
Except for the CBN 1979 $1 & $2 where Unitrade mentions Lettering engraved by Yves Baril
Not exactly a great effort but work is work.

Scott/Unitrade 726 - 727







The CBN lettering looks to be very rough, as if it was "engraved" on the die using a hammer and chisel.
Maybe that's the look the designer wanted.

I'm more interested in finding out as to what printing press(es)
BABN used to print their combination recess/offset stamps.
Did they have an affiliate or subsidiary print the offset/litho first and then run it through the Goebel press for the engraved portion?

Or were they printed by the BABN banknote division?
BABN and CBN shared the printing of Canadian banknotes for decades using a combination of recess and offset/lithography.

Why didn't BABN print them in combo recess/photogravure on the Goebel?
Maybe the Post Office Department wasn't happy with their reprinting the Floral definitives using photogravure and wanted more uniformity?

Martin,

have a better look at your $2 stamps "Kluane" - there is a clean,neat one [your copy] and the ones I will show to-morrow and look like the crappy $1. There must have been a "special" method to produce this!

The $2 has 4 "plates" of which 1 and 2 are on Abitibi paper, 3 on Clark and 4 on Harrison paper.

I don't think Yves Baril was responsible for the dies but for the first one!?

Pay some attention to the back of stamp and see the deep relief of the lettering [or not!]...

Rein

The hitting nails "engravings" were systematically applied in the 1977-1986 period by the CBN, starting with the offset-litho flowers!

The Street Scenes were in recess + photogravure [50c, 75c, 80c], but in recess+offset-litho [50c, 60c]. Same crappy recess as well ...

Any quality controll???

Here I scanned a mint Scott/Unitrade 727 together with a
used one.



Noticeable difference in the offset colour shades but also
in the silver lettering.

I'm not sure about the used one, probably Plate 3 Clark paper
but the mint one is definitely Plate 1 since I got it
from the philatelic centre shortly after it was issued.

Rein, you're right about the deteriorating quality of
the engraving when you compare the two.

Below 2 scans of the used stamp




and of the mint $2

On the gum side debossing is quite visible on the mint $2



less so on the $1 mint



and on the used $2 even less

Martin,

this is NOT the engraving, it is the process!

Not recess but die-stamping?!



Double impression as I look at it after a good night's sleep :)

You can recognize the fragments of "CANADA"

Rein

6 different "engravings"!?







The numbers 1,2 and 6 may have the same source, but the others???

This is NOT recess!

At the back:

1+2 and 6 are similar indeed!