The Gilbert & Ellice Islands King George VI stamps were printed from 1938 until about 1952. The stamps were printed partially by Bradbury Wilkinson, De La Rue, and Waterlow. So you will see characteristics from all the printers in this set. Expect some perforation changes, and some color shades for the De La Rue printings. You will have to look at the paper and gum to determine the other two.

The pages were created using information presented by the information listed in "Philatelic Handbook of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands" by D. H. Vernon. This book was published in 1973 and updated in 1983 by the Pacific Islands Study Circle. This excellent reference to all of the issues from the islands to 1972 include a list of the printings, quantities printed and descriptions of the color and paper and gum from the stamps. If you would like to view the details from this book compared to the tables from Potter & Shelton, please download the Excel spreadsheet that is linked below the page scan links.

The pages are from my collection. 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.