Identifying stamps from the Grenada King Edward VII 1906 Set is a matter of determining the watermark for the 1/ issues and then sorting the color of the 2-1/2d stamps. The design used was a replacement for the keyplate design that used for the first two printings during King Edward's reign. The stamps were initially issued beginning in 1906 until they were replaced by the King George V issues in 1913.

If you have trouble determining the watermarks on the 1/ stamps, try looking at them face down against black paper. For the record, the 10/ stamp is watermarked Crown CA, but it was only issued with that watermark, so you don't need to sort it. 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 normally seen from the back.

Color shades can be difficult to sort, especially when you only have a couple of stamps to compare. They typically occur when the stamps are printed after the initial printing. Today we have computer color matching, but during this time it was done by hand with components that might differ from the original ink formula. I like to place the stamps against black and then white paper and view them under a strong light. You really need to look at the back of the stamps to see the paper colors clearly. The images shown attempt to show the colors, but they do not show them as well as viewing the stamps in person. So use the images as relative indicators.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. I do not have the print quantities for this set, but considering other issues from this time period, I would expect that there about 5,000 sets produced. Please feel free to provide the printing details if you have them.

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. You can access the other publishers using the "Links to British Colonial Stamp Sites" at the bottom of this page. The catalogues list these stamps by watermark, so you will note the order seems different than you might be used to seeing. For this article, the stamps were listed by value and in order of the date they were issued.

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.