The King George VI St. Helena stamps were printed from 1938 until about 1952. This is a very small island with little population, so there were not a lot of stamps printed and not a lot of reprintings. As a result, it is pretty easy to determine the relative time period of when most stamps were printed simply because there are only a few printings.

The stamps were produced by Waterlow and Sons, who printed a number of British Colony King George VI issues. The Waterlow stamps are mostly noted for their consistency. The perforations might only change slightly from say 12.5 to 12.4, and the colors are pretty similar. I have found that the easiest way to sort them is by comparing the paper and gum.

The pages were created using information presented by W. J. W. Potter & Lt. Col. R. C. M. Shelton in their "The Printings of King George VI Colonial Stamps" which was published by Stamp Collecting Ltd. in December, 1952. The publication listed tables for each of the countries' issues that were included. The listings of "BKxx" were created to tie the Commonwealth Catalogue (at that time printed by Bridger & Kay) to the Potter & Shelton listings. They are unique to my collection, so won't tie into anything you might find familiar. Please consult your catalog to determine the appropriate listing for the stamps displayed.

The pages are from my collection, and are identified only by the Commonwealth numbers in that order. See the listing below for the corresponding Gibbons and Scott set numbers. 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.