Identifying the Antigua King Edward watermarked Crown CC issues is primarily a matter of determining the watermark and then finding the difference between the Chalk and Ordinary paper issues. It is generally found on a very bright white paper. (Look at it against black paper with a good light.)

If you are familiar with chalk paper, the King Edward chalk issues tend to be different than the later versions. The chalk coating does not seem to be very well applied (compared to later issues). The result is that you might not readily see a line if you drag a piece of silver across the paper. If you are used to looking for pits in the paper, they are not as well disbursed as the later issues. If you use the method of feeling the paper for the slick coating, it is not going to feel as slick as later printings.

As a general rule, the stamps with a chalk coating will have a better impression than the ordinary paper printings. So if all else fails, look for the difference in the quality of the printing impression as you compare the stamps.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, sets like this one were issued very conservatively. This set was issued from 1903 until 1909. The 5/ issues of this set were issued in a quantity of 2,640 total stamps.

The catalog numbers are from the 1980 Commonwealth Five Reigns Catalogue (CW), 2011 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue (SG) and the 2011 Scott catalog (ST). The description is from the Commonwealth Catalogue. Please contact Bridger & Kay to obtain a copy of this publication.

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