Great Britain Album Pages

I came across this web site with free-to-print album pages for Great Britain. Can anyone tell me if this looks pretty complete? Is there a better option for pages to print, or perhaps pages already printed that I can just order? Apologies if this particular web site has already been discussed.

http://www.gbstampalbums.co.uk/

At first glance, they look complete to me. Of course there are deeper levels of specialisation, but this looks good for most collectors and superb to have available for free.

Slightly curious, I noticed where stamps are issued in a strip, they have a space for the whole strip and also for the individual stamps. A bit unnecessary to duplicate - but no big deal.

I made up some pages which have expanded places for plate numbers, etc. They are free to download and use (page of info & links:


http://www.rfrajola.com/gbpages.htm

Ringo..I actually don't mind that. I have Mystic's U.S. albums, and sometimes they'll show strips and individual stamps, sometimes they don't. I wish they'd be consistent. At any rate, I'm seriously considering printing these pages to create my own GB album. Maybe you can answer this for me: looking through the years, I see series of definitives with the Queen on them from different years, but I don't see how you tell the difference of one series to another.

For example, there is this: http://www.collectgbstamps.co.uk/ex...s/?year=1952

And there is this: http://www.collectgbstamps.co.uk/ex...s/?year=1960

What is the difference between the two definitive series shown at the top of each page? It appears there are subtle changes in shade of color, but that could be the scans. What do I look for to determine 1952 from 1960 stamps?

"What do I look for to determine 1952 from 1960 stamps?"

Watermark

You'll need to read up a little, but the info is readliy available. These are the so-called "Wilding" series. Watermarks are the main distinguishing feature, but there is more to it.

GB stamps sometimes have stripes ("bands") of phosphor coating on the fronts, visible by tilting them into the light. And in a few cases, black graphite lines on the backs. The Wilding series was issued repeatedly in whole or part sets, like this:

1952-54 = "E2R and crowns" watermarks (no phosphor or graphite)

1955-58 - Similar "E2R and crowns" watermark, but crown re-designed (larger) (still no phosphor or graphite)

1957 - Newer "E2R and crowns" watermark with black graphite lines on back (six stamps only)

1958-68 - multiple-crown watermarks (no E2R anymore) (no phosphor or graphite)

1958-61 - multiple-crown watermarks and graphite lines (no phosphor)

1959 - multiple-crown watermarks and grahite lines on back AND phosphor bands on front

1960-67 - multiple-crown watermarks with phosphor bands on front, but no graphite lines

1967-68 - the four castle high-values re-issued without watermark

If you can get hold of a catalogue or a website covering this, it will all appear simpler than it may seem.

I have a fix for that.

I need to get back to fixing more Mystic pages. I'm so behind on my stamp collectiong.

Thanks for the info, Ringo. I'll have to research that all a little more.

Apastuszak...what is your fix? Hacked pages?

Be careful of page size. Many European pages differ in size from U.S. pages.

Bloody hell, they are different! I did not see that. So, if I print these A4 pages on the letter size paper we Yanks use, how great a difference will I see? It appears that A4 is narrower and taller than letter size.

If you re-size the print to fit US letter, it may not matter, depending on how close the individual frames are to the stamp edges.

A4 and US letter are less than a quarter of an inch different in width, about 3 percent. Height-wise, the difference in the paper is greater - more like about 6 percent. These are fairly small adjustments - maybe try a couple of test pages. My guess is, you'll be OK.

Ringo...I've printed a couple to take home and try out. Yes, if the frames aren't too close to the stamps, I'm ok with it.

Yes. I redo the pages with se-tenants that are broken up and reconnect them. For me, it's kind of fun.

Well, when printed to letter size, the frames are just ever so slightly larger than the stamps themselves. It's really close...and I can live with it (especially knowing what a full album of the same pages would cost elsewhere). Now...to find a windfall of stamps to start filling it!

Turn off fit to page in Adobe Reader. That should solve that problem. You'd think the world could standardize on a paper size. But, no, we Americans have to be different.

apastuszak: Turning off "fit to page" actually doesn't help. It just cuts off the border on the top or bottom. I think I can live with the images scaled down slightly to fit the pages to letter size. Now I need more stamps to fill it! It's like when I started a Canada album: reminds me of when I started collecting as a 10 year old and having a fresh album to play with.