This auction is for a PDF computer file which will be sent on a CD. The file allows you to print album pages in a standard computer printer which you can then punch and keep in the album of your choice. 

 

No stamps are included - I have just used some stamps on a printed example of the pages to illustrate the type of stamps the pages are intended for. 

 

The pages allow a sheet to be reconstructed from the check letters in the bottom corners.

 

From the Penny Black in 1840 onwards many stamps were printed with different check letters in the bottom corners.  Each position in the sheet of 240 stamps had a different combination, starting with "AA" in the top left corner with "AB" and "AC" going along the top row to "AL" at the top right.  "BA" and "BB" would begin the second row and this would continue right down to "TL" at the bottom right.  This was done to make forgery more difficult, as any forger would know that too many stamps emerging with the same check letters would be suspicious.  This practice continued up to the late 1880's. 

 

It is possible to therefore reconstruct a sheet with these pages giving ready-made spaces to mount them on.  There are spaces for all 240 combinations on twelve pages.

 

It is suitable for

The small halfpenny "bantam" stamps of 1870 were printed in sheets of 480, so these pages are not suitable for them.  And some values in the 1880 "lilac and green" set are in horizontal format so also will not fit.

 

YOU CAN PRINT AS MANY SETS OF PAGES AS YOU WISH FROM THIS FILE.  For example some collectors try to reconstruct sheets of all the penny red "plates" of 1858 - there are about 150 different plates so if you printed out a set for each that would be 1800 pages and spaces for 36,000 stamps (and it would take you a lifetime to fill!)

 

There are also blank pages at the back for stamps on piece or pairs/multiples.

 

I find using slightly thicker paper than normal listing paper is better, but you have full choice over the paper to use and the album/folder you keep the stamps in.  I bought a four hole punch and use four-ring A4 binders.

 

I supply two versions - one is entitled "Queen Victoria One Penny Red" at the top of each page (see the scan below), as this is the most common use these pages will be put to.  But I also include one with this omitted and it simply has the "GREAT BRITAIN" title - this is for when you use the pages for any other stamps, eg two pence blues, or a surface printed stamp.

 

As well as pdf files which cannot be edited, I will supply a file for each in word (.doc) format, which can be edited by yourself if you wish for any reason.

 

Ignore the condition of the stamps in the pictures - they are not the subject of the auction and just a few I picked out of a large accumulation to give you the idea - it is the computer file with the underlying pages you are buying. 

 

PLEASE SEE MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR OTHER SIMILAR PRINTABLE FILES - INCLUDING ONES FOR PLATING OTHER LINE ENGRAVED STAMPS, AND FOR POST OFFICE NUMERAL POSTMARKS.

 

To avoid doubt bidders selecting "Buy it Now" will be sent a CD. NO ACTUAL PAGES OR STAMPS ARE INCLUDED.