The Malay Peninsula was overrun by the Japanese in December, 1941. During the war, Straits Settlements stamps were used by the Japanese. After the war, Straits Settlements stamps were overprinted BMA MALAYA (British Military Administration) for use throughout the Malay Peninsula.

Other than a few scarce stamps, most of the stamps from this issue are inexpensive and relatively easily found. This presents a real opportunity for a specialist collector because there was a lot of reprintings of the various stamps that were in use. Identifying the stamps is a matter of determining the paper type, the print die, and sorting the various colors and overprint colors that were used. You will also see the term FA - Fluorescent Aniline. This means there is a fluorescent reaction under an ultraviolet light.

Three paper types may be found in this set: chalk paper, substitute (no chalk) paper, and thin striated paper.

Two print dies were used for the production of some of the stamps. Initially the stamps were printed in two operations using what is referred to as Die I. Later printings of the 2c, 3c, 5c, 10c, and 15c stamps were printed using a new die that resulted in one operation. This is referred to as Die II. The easiest way to differentiate between the dies is to look at the palm leaves on the right side. Die I has two points to the leaves, and Die II has one point. You might also notice the crisp impression and the way the lines and palm trees touch the oval in the image in Die I and the separation in Die II. The Dies are noted for the stamps where there are two options. All of the other stamps are Die I. See the images below from the Straits Settlements set to see the differences:

The catalog numbers are from the 2008 Commonwealth King George VI Postage Stamp Catalogue (CW) published by Murray Payne, 2013 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue (SG) and the 2011 Scott catalog (ST). You can access the catalogue publishers using the "Links to British Colonial Stamp Sites" at the bottom of this page. Because of all the variation in this set, every stamp will be identified with the paper type and the print die used.

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.