Tired of trying to sort color shades or watermark varieties? This is the perfect set for you. It only has a perforation change on the three low values. The set was a new design that was used beginning in 1934 until it was replaced by the King George VI issues in 1938.

The stamps were originally perforated 12.5 for the initial printing of the set, but the 1/2d, 1d, and 1-1/2d values were later issued with perforations measuring 12.5 x 13.5 for the 1/2d and 1d values and 13.5 x 12.5 for the 1-1/2d value. I recommend a perforation gauge that is a set of lines on clear plastic, rather than the ones that have a set of dots on them. The lines are more precise and can be viewed as they line up with the perforations on the stamp. The Stanley Gibbons Instanta Gauge is a good option for this type of work. If you don't have an accurate gauge, compare the stamps against one of the higher values that were only issued perf 12.5. You can just put the stamps against each other until the perfs touch. If they don't match, you have one of the perforation varieties.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. I do not have the print quantities for this set, but considering other issues from this time period, I do not have the quantities printed, but considering they were in use for only a few years, it is probably not a large number. Please feel free to provide the printing details if you have them.

The catalog numbers are from the 1980 Commonwealth Five Reigns Catalogue (CW), 2013 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. You can access the other publishers using the "Links to British Colonial Stamp Sites" at the bottom of this page.

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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.