The Cook Islands King George VI initial set of stamps was actually carried over from the King George V set which was printed beginning in 1932. There are three variations of this set using paper that was initially unwatermarked in 1932, then watermarked NZ Star in 1933, and finally Multiple NZ Star beginning 1n 1944. So you may want to consider collecting all three sets.

Since the watermark is the key to sorting the three similar sets, you need to know how to identify them. The two variations are shown below on wider stamps so you can see the pattern. It will look differently on the Cook Islands stamps because they are a more narrow format. It is important to note that the Single NZ Star watermark will line up with the one below, so typically you will only see a single set of the NZ and star on the Cook Islands stamps.

The Multiple NZ Star does not line up directly with the one above it, so you will see a portion of the repeating watermark and it will not be lined up. That is the easiest way to tell these apart.

Once you have identified the watermarks, look at the perforations especially for the 1932 set which has no watermark. There are a number of perforations for many of the values. See the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue for details on these options.

The pages are from my collection, and are identified by the Commonwealth, Gibbons, and Scott numbers in that order. The page images were scanned in a larger size and at a higher resolution so you can more easily see the details used in viewing them. Feel free to select the page and let it download to your screen and save it to your hard drive for viewing. If you are using a PC, selecting the page will typically open it in Microsoft Photo Viewer (or whatever you are using as your default). From there you can enlarge the size for more close-up viewing. If you are using a phone - go find a PC or a Mac. The images are 1200 pixels wide and you will go mad trying to view them on your phone.

Please be patient if it takes a few minutes for each page to load.

This article was written to help you identify your stamps.
Please feel free to ask a question, or suggest a correction.