What Can Be Done: If you wanted to collect one country that only issued stamps in the nineteenth century and which gives all the joy the philately has to offer, than Queensland would be a very good choice. There are imperfs, and numerous different perforation types on the first issues, all of which make for collectable varieties. There are numerous compound perfs and watermarks, surcharges and plate varieties. Indeed, Scott make 56 major numbers out of one design type – determined by perf, denomination and watermark. All in all, Queensland issued a little over 200 different stamps.
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Stamp Catalogs: Scott is the catalog most Americans use to collect Queensland though most non Americans use the Stanley Gibbons catalog. Gibbons is a bit more thorough but not worth the extra effort.
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Stamp Albums: Most Americans use the Queensland pages from the Scott specialty series for Australia and area. Queensland is a good country to experiment with making your own pages. Many collectors make their own album pages. The advantage of making your own pages is not only cost, but the fact that you can include the varieties that you want on each page.
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Availability of Material: Queensland stamps are the hardest to find of all the Australian States. The first issue is distinguished from later issues by being imperforate as opposed to having perforations. Be careful, as the margins are small and care must be taken that you are really buying an imperf, not a clipped perforated stamp. Care should be exercised in collecting the Postal Fiscal stamps which are listed by Scott as AR numbers. Postal Fiscals are stamps that were issued to be used either as postage stamps or as revenues. Mint, these stamps present no danger. When you find them used make sure they have postal cancels and were not used as revenues, as revenue use is common and the stamps sell at fractions of their postally used price.
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Expense: The first issue, the imperfs, are rare and pricey. After that, the country is affordable and challenging.
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Overall Grade: B+