Red Rose Series 8 - Butterflies of North America  Error card # 31 (Canadian)

A new error card has been spotted by the keen eye of collector Linda Ringland. Yes, this interesting discovery was first reported by my good friend, Mark Knowler, at www.TeaCards.Com but I can report on it too, right? It's better to read about it in two places as opposed to no place at all, that's what I say.  The discovery was made in June of 2005. 

So what is it? What did Ms. Ringland find? She found that the copyright info from the National Wildlife Federation had been misapplied. Normally, the copyright and litho statements are put at the bottom of the image. Number 31, Eastern Tailed Blue can be looked at as a portrait or landscape painting. It must have been a point of confusion for the printer as the card exists with the copyright and litho as if the picture is portrait (writing across bottom short side) and also as landscape (writing across bottom long side.)  

What about a comparison? Here are the 3 known variations in the number 31 card, Canadian Portrait; Canadian Landscape; and US Landscape.

What is the correct orientation? I firmly believe that portrait is what was designed. The album shows a portrait orientation for pasting and even more telling, the wall chart for Butterflies shows it in portrait. Closer examination even shows the portrait writing.  

Which is the "error" card? Another good question. I believe the correct card was made first, the Canadian Portrait card. It would have been used to layout the album and for a photo shoot for the wall chart. I then believe a printer decided that Portrait was a mistake and error cards were printed thereafter. The albums and wall charts were more than likely printed on different machines than the cards and subsequent trips to the printer were probably for more cards. The printer was probably not aware of the album and wall chart indicators.

The previous paragraph is total speculation, but fun nevertheless.

One thing is for sure, there are two separate printings of the Canadian Butterflies series. What's in your collection?

All 6 US cards I could check were landscape. Of the 8 Canadian cards, 2 were portrait and 6 were landscape.

Paul from Toronto reports that of the 4 Canadian cards he has, 1 is portrait and 3 are landscape.

That's a steady 25% for the two of us. What about the rest of you?

Last modified: February 11, 2017

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