The St. Kitts-Nevis King George VI stamps were printed from 1938 until about 1952. There were two sets. The 1938 set featured three different designs, with changes from the lower values to the middle values and later two higher value stamps were added in 1948. There was also a newly designed set issued in 1952. The 1938 set was printed by De La Rue, and as always there are perforation varieties, a number of flaws, and lots of color changes. As a result, this set is very popular with collectors who struggle to identify the numerous catalogue listings. There are no catalogued varieties found in the 1952 set.

My reference for the St. Kitts-Nevis 1938 set is "A Study of the King George VI Stamps of St. Kitts-Nevis 1938-1950" by Peter Baldwin. This monograph was published by Murray Payne in 1997 and became the source of their Commonwealth Catalogue listings for this issue. Included in the work is an overview of the printing process used by De La Rue, the paper and gum considerations, color shades that resulted from the Crown Agents requisitions for the various stamps as they were produced, and a description of the flaws. It is an excellent overview not only for these stamps but to also understand the attributes of the De La Rue stamps from this time period.

Based on the Peter Baldwin monograph, I created an Excel spreadsheet combining his details with the Potter and Shelton listings. This spreadsheet is available for download using the link below.

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.