My reference for the colors and other descriptions of these stamps is Bob Dickgiesser & Eric Yendall's "King George VI Large Key Type Stamps of Bermuda, Leeward Islands, Nyasaland". As you can see, there were seven £1 issues printed during the 14 years of production with a total printing of just 93,780 stamps.
Sorting these stamps is a matter of first checking the perforation, then comparing the color of the paper, and finally looking at the colors of the stamp.
The perforation is going to either be 14 or 13. If it is Perf 13, you are done with the process.
The Perf 14 stamps are divided into four color groups of paper:
1937 - On Red Paper, closer to the 1951 Perf 13 printing, not as intense. 1938 - On what is called Brick Red Paper - look for the very light center. 1942 - On Carmine Paper - deeper than the other papers. 1943-44 - On Salmon Paper - paler than the other papers.
1937 - On Red Paper, closer to the 1951 Perf 13 printing, not as intense.
1938 - On what is called Brick Red Paper - look for the very light center.
1942 - On Carmine Paper - deeper than the other papers.
1943-44 - On Salmon Paper - paler than the other papers.
Once you can determine the Carmine and Salmon papers, the rest is fairly easy. If your stamp is Perf 14 and is not Carmine or Salmon - it is one of the rare printings. If it is deeply colored, it is from the 1937 printing. If it is pale, it is from the 1938 printing.
If your stamp is Carmine, look at the center color. It will be a shade of purple. The deeper one is from the 2/42 printing, and the lighter one is from the 10/42 printing. If you do not have both copies, it will be difficult to make this determination. It is more likely that you have the 10/42 printing due to the larger number of stamps that make up this printing.
If your stamp is Salmon, look at the center color. It will be a Brownish Purple shade. If the color seems to have a reddish tone, it is probably from the 6/44 printing. If you do not see a hint of the reddish color to the brownish-purple, then it is probably from the 12/43 printing. Again, without having both copies for comparison. This would be difficult. The difference between these printings is so subtle that no catalog even tries to list both stamps.
Please do not treat the scans as totally accurate in terms of color. Internet Browsers do not clearly show the entire range of colors in the spectrum. The centers of all the stamps appear a little washed out due to the effects of my scanner.
This article is intended to help collectors identify their KGVI Stamps. Please feel free to write with additional information. It will be added to revised versions of this article.