Johore State is on the extreme south of the Malay Peninsula near the island of Singapore. Thru a series of treaties, Johore became a semi-independent state under the Straits Settlements. Overprinted stamps of the Straits Settlements were issued beginning in 1878 until they were eventually replaced by stamps with the image of Sultan Abubakar in 1891. Upon the death of the Sultan in 1895, Sultan Ibrahim was crowned as the new Sultan. An initial set of stamps using a portrait of Sultan Ibrahim was issued in 1896. This set was replaced in 1904 with a series of stamps using a newer portrait. This portrait was used until 1941 when the Japanese captured the territory. After the conclusion of World War II, Straits Settlements stamps overprinted BMA were used until a new set with a new portrait of the Sultan was issued in 1949.

You can identify stamps from the 1949 set by sorting the various colors that evolved during the nine years the set was printed. As many as twelve printings of some of the values were created. This results in a lot of potential color shades to sort. As you will see, not all printings have noticeable color changes, so only the ones listed in the catalogues are shown below. The values that were most heavily printed were the 2c, 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, 10c, 25c, 50c, $1, $2, and $5.

Many collectors have trouble identifying colors. I find it helps to have a number of stamps to sort rather than just one or two. I place all of the same value stamps on black and then white paper and look at them under a strong light. The color differences tend to stand out when viewed this way. Then it becomes a matter of deciding if a stamp is a darker or paler in comparison to the other stamps in the group you are sorting. When you have isolated the color differences, look at your catalogue reference to see what is listed. Remember there were multiple printings of this set, so there should be some variation in many of the values. You can use the stamps shown below as a reference of what might be found.

All of the stamps were printed on paper watermarked Multiple Script CA. You do not have to sort any watermarks to identify these stamps. However, the 6c issue was accidentally printed with paper watermarked Multiple Script CA with a single St. Edward's Crown inserted into the watermark instead of the crown typically used. This is worth looking for as it is very valuable. See the catalogues for a description of this watermark.

The catalog numbers are from the 2008 Commonwealth King George VI Postage Stamp Catalogue (CW) published by Murray Payne, 2013 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue (SG) and the 2011 Scott catalog (ST). The historical details are from "The Postage Stamps of the Federated Malay States, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Straits Settlements, Sungei Ujong, and Trengganu" by Dr. F. E. Wood. The print dates are described in the 1968 Stanley Gibbons Elizabethan Postage Stamp Catalogue. You can access the catalogue 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.