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However it may surprise some readers to know that major errors - that is where something very visual is wrong with a stamp - are very scarce from the reigns of Queen Victoria and the various Kings before our present Queen.

Errors made while printing the early line engraved stamps tend to be dry prints (where some ink is missing from the design impression), inverted watermarks or perforation faults. With the later Victorian stamps, a check in Stanley Gibbons concise catalogue sees only two significant errors listed. These were the 1870 OP-PC error for SG51/52 (1½d Red plate 1), where an O was used incorrectly instead of a C in the corner letters, and the second was again a corner letter error but this time affecting SG 140 where LH-FL is used instead of LH-HL.

There are several errors collectors seek from the King's reigns, although few are startling. Perhaps the best known are the "no cross on crown" varieties and the Prussian Blue colour error affecting the King George V Silver Jubilee 2½d value.

So, believe it or not, the golden age of high impact error stamps for GB collectors is actually the reign of our current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The first truly spectacular error from her reign appeared in 1961 when a few examples of the POSB 2½d commemorative stamp were issued with the black ink missing leaving a white space where the Queen's head should appear.

Can you spot what's missing?

As the QE2 era continued the number of errors increased as more stamps were being issued so that, now, collectors have a wide range of striking errors to look out for and many are surprisingly affordable given their relative scarcity. When you consider a fine unmounted mint example of the King George V Prussian Blue will command anything up to £10,000 because there are believed to be only 200 or so in existence, there are QEII errors changing hands for less than £100 where a similar number of stamps are believed to exist. Of course there are some errors where even fewer examples are known but, while more expensive, they still usually fall well short of the Prussian Blue's value.

Can you spot what's missing from this block?

Apart from missing colour stamps which might lead to major features being absent on stamps, there are many other errors to look out for. For example one stamp on every sheet of the 12p value from 1980 Famous Authoresses commemorative issue had the "p" missing in the value. While this is a dramatic visual error, you can find examples on eBay changing hands for just a few pounds. More recently the new style £2.00 high value Machin definitive caused a scramble when it was realised each sheet from one print cylinder featured a stamp missing the "£" in the value.

The introduction of phosphor bands on British stamps created a new type of error that, while barely visual, has generated some highly collectable stamps with missing bands or coatings. From time to time some dramatic perforation errors also surface which, despite being very scarce, rarely exceed a couple of hundred pounds when sold. Another popular source of errors are stamp booklets where panes have been mis-cut etc.

Given the relative scarcity of many QE2 errors and the often surprising fairness of current prices (when compared to older stamps where similar numbers are known to exist) this is perhaps an area worth exploring by anyone considering specialisations for a new GB stamp collection. While the sheer volume of stamps involved would probably overwhelm anyone starting a general GB collection covering all reigns, a decent collection of certain types of errors would seem far more attainable and, I believe, more likely to build in to something that will significantly acquire value in years to come.

Check out the current live online auctions of GB stamp errors.

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