Perak State lies on the West coast of the Malay Peninsula. British influence began in 1818 when a treaty was signed between the "Raja of Perak" and the East India Company.

Stamps from Perak initially were overprinted Straits Settlements stamps which were issued beginning in 1879. In 1892, specific stamps were issued which used the keyplates used by the other Malay States featuring a sideways tiger, and later a front facing tiger. Numerous overprints were created to deal with shortages as they occurred. Beginning in 1935, stamps were issued with the image of the Sultan.

The 1950 set features the image of Sultan Yussaf Izzuddin, and was printed on paper watermarked with Multiple Script CA. You can identify stamps from this set by sorting the various colors that evolved during the seven years the set was printed. As many as seven printings of some of the values were created. This results in a lot of potential color shades to sort. As you will see, not all printings have noticeable color changes, so only the ones listed in the catalogues are shown below. The values that were most heavily printed were the 4c, 6c, 10c, and 25c values.

Many collectors have trouble identifying colors. I find it helps to have a number of stamps to sort rather than just one or two. I place all of the same value stamps on black and then white paper and look at them under a strong light. The color differences tend to stand out when viewed this way. Then it becomes a matter of deciding if a stamp is a darker or paler in comparison to the other stamps in the group you are sorting. When you have isolated the color differences, look at your catalogue reference to see what is listed. Remember there were multiple printings of this set, so there should be some variation in many of the values. You can use the stamps shown below as a reference of what might be found.

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 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. The print dates are described in the 1968 Stanley Gibbons Elizabethan Postage Stamp Catalogue. You can access the catalogue 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.
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