South Africa – Guide to KGVI Issues

Collectors of KGVI stamps often pay little or no attention to the issues of South Africa.  Some collectors believe they are too complicated to sort and identify, others simply don’t like the stamps, as most do not bear the image of the King.  Whatever you may think, don’t let the prejudices of other collectors put you off.  The philately of KGVI South Africa is fascinating and very accessible.  The rotogravure printing process employed for the production of these stamps lent itself to the unintentional creation of varieties both constant and non-constant.  The long periods for which the same basic designs were used means there are a fantastic range of printings and shades to collect.

There were three main groups of definitives issued during the KGVI period.  They are commonly known as the “Unhyphenated Pictorials,” the “Hyphenated Pictorials” and the “Screened Pictorials.”  The definitives were issued in bilingual pairs, with an English inscribed stamp and an Afrikaans inscribed stamp alternating throughout the sheet.  The sets are so-named because the Afrikaans stamps initially had the country name “Suidafrika” joined as one word.  Later this was changed to two words with the insertion of a hyphen, hence “Suid-Afrika.”  The last set of definitives saw the printing process changed to include the use of a glass screen.  The effect on the stamp design was to make solid portions of colour made up of tiny dots.  This is easily visible with a magnifying glass.

The rest of the article can be viewed at http://www.africastamps.co.uk/Resources/KGVIGuide.html