Identifying the Virgin Islands King Edward VII issues is very simple. All of the stamps have the same watermark (Multiple Crown CA), and there are no listed color shades. The keyplate design was originally created for the Queen Victoria issues from several Colonies, and modified for use during King Edward's reign was used to replace the badge of the colony stamps issued starting in 1899. These stamps were issued beginning in 1904 and continued to be used until they were replaced by the King George V issues in 1913.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. I do not have the number printed, but would expect that less than 10,000 of the 5/ stamps were printed - based on the numbers produced for other Colonies during this time period.

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.