The British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS) Re-entries and Constant Varieties Study Group has uploaded three presentations by noted collector Michael D. Smith.
One of the presentations, which was given at the study group’s meeting at BNAPEX 2018 in Québec, entitled “Canada’s 1/2d Plate Varieties,” highlights re-entries and plate flaws with clear illustrations taken from the plate proof. It references the plate of 120 for the imperforate stamp and the cut-down plate of 100 for the perforated stamp.
A second presentation, this given at the study group’s meeting at BNAPEX 2015 in Niagara Falls, Ont., is entitled “Three Pence Beaver Selected Re-entries and Plate Varieties.” It offers descriptions, including plate positions, of selected re-entries and plate flaws with detailed illustrations to aid identification.
The final presentation, entitled “Whitworth’s Plate Flaws on the One Cent Decimal Issue,” uses close-up illustrations from an early plate proof and issued stamps with detailed annotations of plate flaws reported by Geoffrey Whitworth in the 1960s.
REACTIVATED IN 2014
This August, the study group also issued a special newsletter, its first since October 2016. Entitled Dots and Scratches, the newsletter is edited by Smith, who reactivated the study group in 2014.
Smith, who’s famous for finding the third-known example of the two-cent large queen on laid paper, expanded the group’s scope in 2014 from re-entries to all constant plate varieties on engraved stamps. He also named the newsletter Dots and Scratches to reflect the expanded scope.
The newsletter’s first series ran from 1981, when the study group was established, and 2004. It was edited by former study group chair Ralph Trimble from 1981-96; Bill MacDonald from 1997-98; and Hal Kellett 1999-2004.