Identifying stamps from the Jamaica King George V Pictoral issues is a matter of determining between two watermark options, and then sorting the color for a few of the stamps. The image was used from 1919 until about 1929 when it was replaced by lower values from two different sets. Ultimately all of the King George V issues were replaced by a similar set that was issued for King George VI in 1938.

If you have trouble determining the watermarks, try looking at them face down against black paper. The stamps watermarked Multiple Crown CA will have sans serif letters with a crown that is narrow and straight edged. The Multiple Script CA watermark has cursive letters and a crown that is more rounded. See the images of the two watermarks below for reference. They are shown as normally seen from the back. All of the stamps in this article are on paper watermarked Multiple Crown CA.

The 1d, 1-1/2d and 10/ stamps were printed on paper that was watermarked sideways. You should expect to see the watermark with the Crown to the right of CA, as shown in the image below.

Color shades can be difficult to sort, especially when you only have a couple of stamps to compare. They typically occur when the stamps are printed after the initial printing. Today we have computer color matching, but during this time it was done by hand with components that might differ from the original ink formula. I like to place the stamps against black and then white paper and view them under a strong light. The images shown attempt to show the colors, but they do not show them as well as viewing the stamps in person. So use the images as relative indicators. I do not agree with the color descriptions of every stamp, but they were copied as they were written for consistency purposes, but I did change the description of the second 1d printing. CW lists it as Carmine & Red. This does not appear to be correct, so I changed it to Orange-Red which does appear to exist.

The 4d issue on thick paper can be determined by looking at the back of the stamp against black paper. Most thinner papers will show the black to be partially visible when you look at the back of the stamp. Stamps with thicker paper do not tend to show the black. This is all relative, so you have to have a few copies to make this determination.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. Typical sets from this time period were produced in a quantity of 20,000 to 30,000 stamps for the high values, so that should be expected for this set. If you have the quantities, please feel free to send them so they can be added to this article.

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 and print quantity 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. The catalogues list these stamps by watermark, so you will note the order seems different than you might be used to seeing. For this article, the stamps were listed by value and in order of the date they were issued.

The images were saved in a larger size and at a higher resolution so you can more easily see the details used in sorting them. Please be patient if it takes a few minutes for this page to load.

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