Identifying the St. Vincent King Edward VII Coat of Arms issues is simply a matter determining the plate type version of the design. All of the stamps were watermarked Multiple Crown CA, and there are no listed color shades. So it is pretty easy to sort these stamps once you determine the design type. The stamps were issued as replacements for the lower value keyplate issues beginning in 1907 and continued to be used until they were replaced by the King George V issues watermarked Multiple Crown CA beginning in 1913.

Three plate designs were used to print these stamps. They are noted in the Commonwealth Five Reigns Catalogue as Type I, Type II, and Type II Redrawn. They are easily determined by looking at two components of the design. The Type I stamps have a decoration to the left of the value tablet, and have a dot under the d in the value tablet. The Type II stamps have no decoration to the left of the value tablet. Initially the dot was removed from under the d in the value tablet, and then in the Redrawn Type II images, it was inserted again. See the three enlarged images below for details.

Although a noticing a few changes will help you identify the sets, there are really eight changes between Type I (1907) and Type II (1909) designs.
1. The 1907 design has an ornament centered above the center design that is missing from the 1909 version.
2. The 1907 design has a slightly different design in the scroll work than the 1909 version.
3. You will also see a dot under the d in the value tablet in the 1907 design that is missing from the 1909 version.
4. PAX ET JUSTITIA is in the right and left bottom scroll work in the 1907 design and is centered in the 1909 version.
5. Postage and Revenue is centered under the image in the 1907 design whereas it is in the scrollwork in the 1909 version.
6. St. Vincent has a white background at the bottom of the 1907 design and a colored background in 1909.
7. The value tablet has 4 dots around the ovals of the 1907 design, and three in the 1909 version.
8. The design in the bottom right and left corners are Maltese Cross type stars in the 1907 design that was changed in 1909.

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 dates are from the Commonwealth Catalogue. I am not sure I agree with every color description, but it is a relative thing. You really need to see a number of stamps to really sort by color. 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 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.