This lot of very interesting North Borneo postmarks appeared in one of the internet auction sites about a week ago. Ebay of course is not the only source to find good quality stamps. In this lot, there are several very interesting postmark which I think are rarely offered as a lot.

Gayah
The first one is the "Gayah" postmark probably the D2 type (1886-1897). The postmark on the stamp is not clear but I'm sure if you look carefull you can make out the faded "YAH" on the top. I can't seem to be able to decipher the date or year.

Tangkulap

The next interesting postmark is the "Tangkulap" postmark on the green 2 cent stamp. The postmark is very clear and shows "TANGK..". No other North Borneo postmark starts this caption. The date is visible but not very clear, my guess is "8 AU 1911". Tangkulap is a small town situated in the Sandakan residency. The post office was closed by 1916, presumably due to not having received enough mails. This is the only example of postmark from Tangkulap.

Others

The other interesting postmark is the Paquebot postmark on the bottom stamp in the picture. This is very likely to be from Sandakan due to the characteristic of the postmark itself. The other postmarks that require special mention include the train mail, and mail train (not quite the same), the tawao postmark and the clear Tenom postmark on the 2 cent British Protectorate stamp.

Comment

Very lucky for the winner to win this lot at a very good price of $66 with 5 bids, competing with just another enthusiastic chap. This emphasizes the point that while ebay is an excellent site to look for great stamps, it is not the only good site out there. In fact, you'll face more competition, and more 'snipers' than you can ever imagine, making you pay more.

From 30-31 January 2010, Interasia acution house based in Hong Kong held a historical stamps auction which they reported as the largest ever sale of China stamps anywhere in the world. Cumulative price realisations for all auction was HK$ 57 million (£4.76 million). The auction also made an important milestone in the Chinese philatelic circle by fetching the most expensive Chinese stamp and Chinese philatelic item. The block of four stamps of 1968 "Victory of Cultural Revolution" managed to reach a jaw dropping hammer price of HK$ 6.67 million (£556,255), making it the most expensive and valuable philatelic material of China. Another mind blowing record was the 1897 red revenue stamp of $1 on 3 cents, reaching HK$ 5.52 million (£460,400), making it the single most expensive Chinese stamp to date. Another highlight in the auction was the 1968 stamp of "The whole county is red", reaching a magnificient price realisation of HK$ 3.45 million (£287,770). These prices include a 15% buyer's premium.

This particular stamp was the most expensive North Borneo stamp in the auction, reaching a hammer price of HK$ 32,200 (£2680). This is an SG #54 with a catalogue value of £9000, issued in 1891-1892, with a 6 cents surcharge on the 8 cents. This is a well centered stamp, clean surface and good fresh colour. Seller also mentioned a small thin spot, light horizontal crease (from hinging), unused with part original gum. The stamp also comes with a B.P.A certificate of authenticity 2009.



This lot comes second in North Borneo category, reaching a hammer price of HK$ 20,000 (£1666). This lot consists of 1889 "and Revenue" overprint ½c. and 10c., 1886 perf. 14 3c. and 5c. surcharges (2 sets), 1886-87 to 50c. (unused) with 1c. pink in pair with 4c., 1889 $5 (2) and $10, 1892 8c. on 25c., 1891-92 6c. on 10c. "Postage & Revenue" (2, unused), 1894 Pictorial set, 1894 50c. (3) to $5, 1897-1902 Pictorial set, plus corrected inscriptions 18c. and 24c., 1899 4c. on 5c. to 4c. on $5 (narrow setting), 1916 2c. on 3c. and 4c. on 6c. "s" inverted, 1922 Malaya-Borneo set, 1931 50th Anniv. set, 1939 1c. to $5, and Postage Dues with 1895-97 2c. to 24c., 1897-99 to 12c., 18c. and 24c., 1901 3c. to 8c., 1902-12 "British Protectorate" basic set less 16c. and 1918-30 Dues, some duplication, mixed condition with some faults particularly on earlier issues (including some stamps noted above) and some toning and tone spots as to be expected, overall a fine and valuable collection.

Tigers are physically powerful, gracious, independent, brave and extremely bold animals. They are friendly and loving but can also be selfish and short tempered. Tigers seek attention and power; frequently they are envious in a relationship. Tigers live dangerously which often leads to trouble. They are intolerant, take risks and are always searching for excitement. Tigers are also instilled with a good dose of courage. This means that if you're born in the year of the tiger you are, according to the Chinese belief, likely to have many of these traits! :)

Look at the "2 cents" black overprint on the stamp. You'll notice that the "c" and "e" and possibly the "n" are inverted. The "c" almost resembles "o" whereas the "e" is clearly inverted. I noticed the error recently while sorting out my North Borneo stamps collection. Due to its black(ish) background, I didn't realize this for so many years and could not recall where I got the stamp from. In fact, I almost sold this stamp together with the other cheap North Borneo stamps in ebay months ago. Nevertheless, as common in philatelic world, there is always a potential find even among junks and rubbish.

In Stanley Gibbons catalogue, a stamp bearing a normal overprint above is catalogued at £27 for mint and £15 for used (SG 186). There is no mention of this specific error even though there is a mention of the "s" being inverted and valued at £100 for mint and £95 for used (SG 186a). Inverted "s" may also means that there is a slight possibility for the other alphabets to be inverted as well. In Scott catalogue, inverted "s" variety is catalogued at $87.50 for both mint and used. I haven't seen any inverted "ce" before, nor have I seen any inverted "s". So I don't know for a fact how much the 'real' values for these verieties. Even though the stamp might be a real rarity, I haven't ruled out forgery although to the best of my knowledge, the overprint has never been forged. If you have some insight please let me know :)

The two covers are part of my collection of North Borneo stamps bearing the Kuala Belait postmarks. Kuala Belait is a town in Brunei. During the BMA period, two types of postmarks were introduced and supplied by the Straits Times Singapore. During this time, Brunei as a whole did not produce any new stamps issues and used either North Borneo or Sarawak stamps overprinted with "BMA" until 2 January 1947.

The first cover on top was addressed to R. H. Morland of London from Kuala Belait dated 28 April 1946. It is franked with the 1 cent and $1 BMA stamps of North Borneo and 5 cents and 15 cents stamps of BMA Sarawak.

The second cover, also adressed to London, bears a second type of postmark (D8 Kuala Belait) dated 06 June 1946 or "triple 6". This cover bears the North Borneo BMA stamps of 2 cents, 10 cents and 50 cents.

History

Kuala Belait is the second largest city in Brunei after Bandar Seri Begawan. The original Kuala Belait post office was built on the site of the present day mosque in Kampong Melayu Asli. On December 16 1941, the Japanese troops arrived at Kuala Belait and invaded the rest of Brunei in 6 days. After the defeat of the Japanese army in 1945, Kuala Belait was administered under British Military Administration (BMA) as a sub office of Miri, Sarawak.

Elopura cds is used from 1884-1885 before the name Elopura being reverted back to Sandakan. Prior to 1884, oval of bars postmarks were used (or doted postmark). The Elopura postmark is about 2.7 mm in diameter and used in black ink. Even though the official usage of the above postmark was from 1884-1885, it is presumed that it was used unofficially to cancel some high values stamps up to 1890. Elopura postmark used officially is valued approximately 20 times the normal used stamp value.

Sandakan was named Elopura from 1879 to 1887. When Kampung German was burnt down in June 1879, William Burges Pryer, the new British Resident to that region decided not to rebuild the destroyed village but rather to move it to what's now is Buli Sim Sim in 21 June 1879. This new settlement was later named as "Elopura" which means "Beautiful City".