GB Stamps Directory
Great Britain Postage Stamps Websites
Queen Elizabeth 2
Great British Queen Elizabeth II Stamps - Issued 1952 to Date 
Queen Elizabeth Stamps
Queen Elizabeth II reign, spanning almost the complete second half of the twentieth Century and the start of the twenty first, has seen more inovation in stamps than any time before.
From changing printing methods, security designs to new products, the various areas available for stamp collectors is huge.
Each field is explained a little in the relevant sections. One of the biggest changes in stamp design came in 1967, when for the first time intentionally since the two short lived stamps of the 10d and One Shilling values of the 1847 Embossed issues, a stamp or in this case a set of stamps were issued with No Watermark .
Until this point watermarks were classed as an inherent part of the security design of every British stamp issued. Since then nearly every British Stamp issued has been on non-watermarked paper.
In 1993 the first serious case of Forged Stamps came to light. They were of the Chestnut 24p machin issue. A large number of which were circlulated around the London area. They were soon discovered by Royal Mail, as they had no Phosphor Bands and so the automatic sorting machines started to throw them out, as without the bands the machines didn't recognize any postage having been paid.
modern day stamps
There are many different types of stamps that have been issued over the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These include commemoratives, wildings, machins, first day covers, presentation packs, booklets, booklet panes, PHQ cards, smilers, postage dues and year books.
Then there are Channel Island stamps and regional stamps.
Collecters also specialise in stamps with printing errors. Traffic light gutter pairs are two identical stamps with the print process colour code between them. And there are training stamps which are ordinary stamps but were used for staff training and have black bars on them to invalidate them for normal postage.
links to relevant websites
www.postagestampsdirectory.com