From 1672 to 1917 Denmark had a colony in the Caribbean, the Danish West Indies (DWI), which consisted of the islands St. Thomas, St. Jan, and St. Croix. In 1917 the colony was sold to the U.S. for $25 million in gold coin and the islands were renamed the United States Virgin Islands.  

The first postage stamp of the Danish West Indies was issued in 1856. It had the same square coat of arms design as the contemporary stamps of Denmark, but it was denominated 3 cents in dark carmine colour on yellowish paper. A yellow burelage of wavy lines covered the stamp. An 1866 re-issue was printed on white paper with the direction of the burelage lines changed, and in 1872 the stamps were perforated. 

In 1873 a 4 Cent value in dull blue stamp was issued and in 1874 DWI issued new numeral design stamps, also mirroring Danish stamps. Most stamps were printed in two colours, with the central oval containing the value, the coat of arms and country name, surrounded by a frame of intricate scrollwork usually printed in a contrasting colour. Nine denominations were issued, and over the next 30 years, there were numerous print runs creating shade varieties. 

As was usual for small colonies far away, the DWI ran out of popular values periodically, and the colonial administration had to improvise. A 1 Cent surcharge was printed on 7 Cent stamps in 1887 and a 10 Cent surcharge on 50 Cent in 1895. An additional supply of numeral types in new colours were issued between 1896 and 1901.

Single-color 1 Cent and 5 Cent stamps were issued in 1900 to meet UPU regulations. Shortages of 2 Cent and 8 Cent values led to more surcharges in 1902, rectified in the following year by an issue of those values using the coat of arms design of 1900. 

As a result of the currency reform in 1905, new stamps were issued. Values from 5 Bit to 50 Bit had a silhouette of King Christian IX, while 1 Franc , 2 Franc and 5 Franc depicted the sailing ship Ingolf in St. Thomas harbour. Additional 5 Bit stamps were produced by surcharging older stamps. A new definitive series in 1907 depicted Frederick VIII, followed in 1915 by a series for Christian X.