Kelantan State is on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula next to Perak, Thailand, Pahang, Trengganu, the China Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Thru a series of occupations and treaties, Kelantan came under the suzerainty of Siam. This was transferred to Great Britain in March, 1909 under the terms of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty. Stamps from the Federated Malay States were used until stamps specific to Kelantan were printed beginning in 1911.

The 1937 set was printed on paper watermarked with Multiple Script CA. Sultan Ismail was depicted on all of the stamps in this set. This set was used until 1941 when the Japanese overran Malaysia. Printings of the high values were created in March of 1940 and were only in use for less than two years, so they tend to be fairly scarce.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. I do not have the quantity printed, but would be interested in adding this information to this page if a fellow collector provides it.

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). The historical details, description and dates are from "The Postage Stamps of the Federated Malay States, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Straits Settlements, Sungei Ujong, and Trengganu" by Dr. F. E. Wood. You can access the catalogue publishers using the "Links to British Colonial Stamp Sites" at the bottom of this page.

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.