Photo by courtesy of B.N.B Co.

I recently came across to this nice stamp in ebay, bearing a supposedly rare postmark. The first thing that you'll notice is the oval of bars postmark at the top right corner, which means that the stamp is originally cancelled-to-ordered.

I don't know the exact date but it is likely to be Oct 192_. This date is problematic because the stamp is released on the 1st of July 1909 and overprinted with "20 cents" on the 7th of September 1909 (only after 2 months of its release). The town is probably Kuching because the third letter resembles C more than D. However, because Kuching is a 7 letter word, while Kudat is a 5 letter word, the K would be much lower in the circle if it was Kuching.

There is a similar stamp here (Silamstar's). Compare the postmark, particularly the town and date.

This week has been a great week where one of the rarest North Borneo postmarks of Labuk & Sugut apperead in ebay. It's nice to know that the final price of the stamps reached $316.00, making it the single most expensive cds of North Borneo in ebay so far this year.

Labuk and Sugut district, which forms part of the Sandakan Residency, is of vast extent and embraces the country drained by the Labuk, Sugut and Paitan Rivers. It joins the district of Marudu in the north and the Interior Residency in the west. The head-quarters of the district were at Klagan (on the Labuk River), seven hours from Sandakan by launch, but owing to the difficulties of the bar and the fact that the station was continually being flooded, it was moved to Beluran in Labuk Bay. With some exception, almost all of the travelling to Klagan HQ has to be done by native boat. The country, a region of vast, gloomy forests, is sparsely inhabited save in the river area, where Orang Sungei (River Folk) are found.

Finally I'm back in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. If you are thinking of visiting Kota Kinabalu, don't forget to visit the Tanjung Aru beach (pic)!!!

Bidding in ebay is no longer fun especially when the currency you use is weaker against the other major currencies (especially US dollar and GBP). I use EURO, so its weakening means that I am slightly more disadvantaged compared to other bidders from outside Europe, especially so in ebay where even 1 cent can determine the difference between winning and losing. According to Reuters, the Euro sinks to its 18-months lowest levels against US dollar, all thanks to the growing fear of the fiscal tightening in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Even Malaysian Ringgit is stronger against Euro. I remember changing 1 Euro for RM 5 last year, but now my 1 Euro only gets me RM 3.90!

Nevertheless, the hunt for North Borneo stamps continues. The signs of recession never seem to have a big impact on ebay. You still can't get your stamps cheaply enough and the growing interest in the stamps means you'll face an ever growing competition. The latest expensive stuff that appeared in ebay is a North Borneo stamps collection of Dr. Bob. This collection reached a final price of $ 515.52. I couldn't really believe that it would reach more than $300 because the stamps are mostly CTOs although there are several rare stamps among them:

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Other pictures click here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 11.

This is a rare Japanese occupation cover of North Borneo that appeared in ebay and ended in 15 April 2010. It reached a final price of $717.77      (€ 558), one of the most expensive covers in ebay so far. It was listed by a fellow Malaysian seller, sarawakiana. He described it as " Imperial Japanese Government (Dai Nippon Teikoku Seifu) single line overprint on the 1c, 4c, and war tax 1 cent. Cancelled by Sandakan postmark of 20.4.18 (20.4.1942) and censored at Sandakan central post office. Addressed to Lahad Datu".