South Africa is probably the most challenging of the British Colonies to collect. The problem is that there were a lot of stamps issued, and there were redrawn images that are hard to define. Combine that with the basic lettering difference between SUIDAFRKA lettering on the first issues and SUID-AFRIKA on the later ones, and the badly defined Official issues that leave a lot of collectors shaking their heads. For a more informative description of the earlier issues, see the Index to KGVI Stamps Web Sites.

The attached pages from my collection can be used to try to figure things out. They are identified by the Commonwealth, Gibbons, and Scott numbers in that order, but since the initial pages were created the Commonwealth Catalogue was slimmed down, so many of the issues included are no longer in the catalogue. The page images were scanned in a larger size and at a higher resolution so you can more easily see the details used in viewing them. Feel free to select the page and let it download to your screen and save it to your hard drive for viewing. If you are using a PC, selecting the page will typically open it in Microsoft Photo Viewer (or whatever you are using as your default). From there you can enlarge the size for more close-up viewing. If you are using a phone - go find a PC or a Mac. The images are 1200 pixels wide and you will go mad trying to view them on your phone.

At the bottom of the list are ID charts that will help you sort your South Africa stamps. Please feel free to save them to your computer for use as you identify your stamps.

Please be patient if it takes a few minutes for each page to load.

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