Identifying the Cayman Islands King Edward VII 1902 to 1907 issues is a matter of determining the watermark. The keyplate design was originally used for the first two printings during King Edward's reign. The stamps were initially issued in 1902 using paper watermarked Crown CA, and then were replaced with the same issues and some additional values and colors printed on paper watermarked Multiple Crown CA in 1905 until they were replaced by a new design of King Edward VII issues in 1907. Although the catalogues list these issues separately, this article deals with the all of these issues together.

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. The 1/ issues were printed in quantities of 2,000 for initial printing, and 2,435 for the new watermark. The 5/ issue was printed in a quantity of 6,000 stamps. 3,960 of the 5/ stamps were overprinted with 1/2d and 1d values in 1907, so unless something other than the initial printing was used, only 2,040 5/ stamps were unoverprinted.

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, print quantities, and dates are from the Commonwealth Catalogue. 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.

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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.