Identifying the St. Vincent King Edward VII issues watermarked Crown CA is simply a matter determining the watermark. The keyplate design was originally used for the Queen Victoria issues from several Colonies, and was modified for use during King Edward's reign. The stamps were issued beginning in 1902 and continued to be used until they were replaced by the issues watermarked Multiple Crown CA beginning in 1904.

If you have trouble determining the watermarks on these stamps, try looking at them face down against black paper. The stamps watermarked Crown CA will always be centered fairly well on the stamp, and the design does not repeat, so even if you can not see the entire watermark, the CA will always be toward the bottom, instead of letters to the sides for the watermark Multiple Crown CA. See the images of the two watermarks below for reference. They are shown as they are normally seen from the back.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. According to "St. Vincent 1899 - 1965" by Charles Freeland, Roy Bond, and Russell Boylan, there were 6,000 5/ issues ordered from De La Rue. Actual numbers printed were not listed, but you should expect that they were very close to the number ordered.

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. All of the stamps issued during King Edward VII's reign are shown here rather than in groups because there are so few from the first watermark. You will find them grouped differently in the catalogs.

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.