Identifying the Barbados Queen Victoria watermarked Crown CA Badge of the Colony issues is primarily a matter of determining the watermark. The design was used from 1892 thru 1910 with two different watermarks. This article deals only with the issues watermarked Crown CA, which was printed thru 1903.

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 to 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.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets in the 1890's were issued very conservatively. The two 2/6 printings were issued in a quantity of 11,520 for the Blue-Black and Orange issue, and 4,560 for the Violet and Green printing. The quantities printed are from "The Stamps of Barbados" by Edmund A. Bayley. Mr. Bayley indicates that there were multiple printings of all the issues from this set, but none of the catalogues lists any shades.

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 is from the Commonwealth Catalogue. Please contact Bridger & Kay to obtain a copy of this publication.

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This article was written to help you identify your stamps.
Please feel free to ask a question, or include a correction.