The Queen's Staircase issues date back to the time of King Edward VII. You will find them with three different watermarks: Crown CC, Multiple Crown CA, and Multiple Script CA.

Identifying the Bahamas KGV Queen's Staircase issues printed on paper watermarked Multiple Crown CA is primarily a matter of determining the difference between the watermarks, and finding the various color shades. This set was in use from 1911 until it was replaced with the KGV MSCA Issues in 1921.

I find it is easiest to see the watermarks by placing the stamps against black paper and looking at them under a strong light. If you can't see the watermark under these conditions, feel free to use safe watermark fluid. The various catalogues have good examples of these watermarks, but if you just look for either the difference in the shape of the crown, or the font used. The Crown CC and Multiple Crown CA use a sans-serif style font. The Multiple Script CA watermark uses an italic style of font. Reverse scans of these watermarks are shown below. They appear as you would see them when looking at the back of the stamp.

The catalog numbers are from the 1980 Commonwealth Five Reigns Catalogue (CW), 2011 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.

The colors listed in the catalogue seem a little inconsistent in how they describe the blacks and the grey-blacks. So the frame color was used as the primary means of identifying the issue. If you have a better example of any of these stamps, please feel free to contact me using the email link at the bottom of the page.

The Thin and Thick papers are best determined by looking at the back of the stamps. I find that using black paper and a strong light helps. If you obtain a tool to measure the thickness of the stamps, it will not conclusively show the difference, so I look for how easily the black paper is visible thru the stamp as you view the back. The thinner appearing paper is a little more transparent compared to the thicker appearing paper. The same suggestion applies for finding the Greyish paper.

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. You should also note that colors shown on the internet are not exact, so use the colors shown in reference to each other rather than as an exact match.

This article was written to help you identify your stamps. Please feel free to ask a question, or include a correction.
We are always interested in additional shades or more information on these stamps. Please feel free to let us know if you have anything helpful.