North Borneo Stamps: Forgeries and Fakes

at 12:19 AM Posted by Marcel |

Stamps forgeries and fakes are the disease of stamps collection. Many forged stamps can be easily detected while some go unnoticed even to the experts eyes. Like many countries, North Borneo stamps are also targeted by the unscrupulous counterfeiters especially the high-value and rare stamps. The term "forgery" and "fake" are used to describe these. These term are usually used interchangably but in strict term they are quite distinct. Forgeries refer to the reproduction of existing genuine stamps to defraud collectors. Fakes on the other hand refer to genuine stamps that have been altered to increase their values and make them more presentable. This includes regumming, reperforated, marked with forged cancellations, surcharges or overprints.


North Borneo Stamps

SG 1 - North Borneo first stamp (1883)
SG 2 - 8 cents surcharge on 2 cents (1883)
SG 3 - 8 cents surcharge on 2 cents (1883)
Fournier forged surcharges (1886) Click HERE and another picture HERE
Issues of 1886-1887
Issues of 1888-1892
Issues of 1916 (Maltese cross) Reference HERE.
Japanese overprints (1944)

Labuan Stamps

Queen Issues

North Borneo & Labuan Postmark

Fake Jesselton Postmark I: 22 AUG 1911 (Madame Joseph Forgery)
Fake Jesselton Postmark II: 22 AUG 1931
Fake Jesselton Postmark III: 22 AUG 1941
Fake Jesselton Postmark IV: 20 AU 49 (Dash before Jesselton)
Fake Jesselton Postmark V: 15 JA 48
Fake Beaufort Postmark: 14 NOV 1918
Fake Kudat Postmark: AU 15 1899
Fake Labuan Postmark I: Oval of 9 bars (1883-1908)
Fake Labuan Postmark II: 28 JUL 1910
Fake Labuan Postmark III: 11 NOV 1946
Fake Sandakan Postmark I: Oval of 14 bars (1887-1891)
Fake Sandakan Postmark II: Eye-shaped with 19 bars (1889-1894)
Fake Sandakan Postmark III: 23 JUN 1886 (Fournier Forgery)
Fake Sandakan Postmark IV: 11 MAR 1887
Fake Sandakan Postmark V: 16 JAN 1916
Fake Sandakan Postmark VI: 1 NOV 1918
Fake Japanese Occupation Postmark I: "17 11 21" (21 NOV 1942)
Fake Japanese Occupation Postmark II: "18 3 1" (1 MAR 1943)

Note: These are the well-documented forgeries and fake postmarks of North Borneo stamps.
I believe, there are many more unnoticed and suspicious postmark around.

Sarawak Stamps

Brunei Stamps

Miscellaneous