North Borneo stamps in Rome? That doesn't sound right at all. I don't recall many Italian sellers selling British Borneo materials, neither in ebay nor elsewhere. So my main target to Rome was simply to eat authentic Italian spaghetti, attending the Pope's mass and to admire the artistic masterpieces of the likes of Michaelangelo, Raphael, Bernini etc. Stamps came tenth in my to-do list.

Nevertheless I did manage to find a philatelic shop in the middle of the bustling city of Rome. Who would have tought that the shop was just a stone throw away from the hotel where I stayed. I went inside the shop, trying to pick up any hint suggesting the presence of rare philatelic gems hidden somewhere in the mountainous stamp albums. I was duly greeted by the shopkeeper with "buongiorno", an Italian formal way of saying hello. I wanted to ask him about North Borneo or even Malaya stamps, but because there wasn't anything in the shop suggesting non-Italian items, I started with a very broad question - "Do you have stamps from the British Commonwealth?" He gave me a blunt "No". "What about British stamps?" I asked again "No, we don't have that either...".

So yeah, no luck in Rome. I went to several other smaller shops but the answers were practically the same. "No!". I didn't stay long in Rome, perhaps if I had a longer stay I might, with luck, find  some stamps r covers from British Borneo. I remember buying two covers of North Borneo BMA stamps from an Italian seller long time ago but that was it..

Because Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, everyhing you expect a country should possess can be found without difficulty in this 0.44 km² area. This includes its two post offices; and the philatelic museum located in the bigger museo vaticani. I knew nothing about the Vatican philately but a visit there was quite interesting because you get to see the Pope's picture everywhere in the coins and in the stamps and the tendency to depict religious-related design (Angels, cross, Saints etc). Many of the older Vatican stamps are engraved which give that nice classical feeling and high aesthetical value.

Many pre-1900 covers were also shown but because I don't have the knowledge of the Papal states philately I didn't get to appreciate their values and beauties. Perhaps they are as rare as the older cover we have in North Borneo such as those with Gantian postmark, Silam, the early entire and the early Labuan covers. Here are some of the exhibited items in the museum: