Pen cancellation is relatively common among the North Borneo stamps but currently there is a limited reference or study done on the subject. This resulted in very few attention or interest on the subject itself. If looked carefully, some pen cancels are actually quite interesting and possibly rare.

Most pen cancels are seen in revenue or fiscally used stamps. The cancels can range from a simple meaningless scribble to something describing the date and town, and in some case, the initials of the postmaster.

Pen cancels are usually associated with fiscal or revenue stamps, however, in some instances it may be used as a substitute to handstamp on postally used stamps. It is not certain whether North Borneo ever necessitated pen cancels because of the shortage of handstamps, however in some countries a shortage of handstamps may be solved simply by using the pens. Nicaragua for example exclusively used pen cancels for seven years after its first stamps issue due to unavalability of handstamps.

Values

Of course because of the nature of the cancellation, pen cancels worth significantly lower than handstamped collection. Even a CTO stamp may worth more than a pen-cancelled stamp. It is probably the less desired cancels of all and some people even attempt to remove the cancels to make the used stamps appear mint.



Nevertheless, pen cancel is still unique in its own way, and clearly someone has to do a research or study on the topic. It would be nice to know whether there is a regulation or guideline issued by the North Borneo Company on how to pen-cancel a stamp.

Anyone participating in an online auction should notice this - the buyer's premium - an additional charge levied by the auction house to the successful bidder in addition to the final hammer price. This 'small' charge is paid by the bidder to the auctionhouse but not passed or shared with the vendor.

The majority of the stamps online auction charges this at 15%. Usually this also includes a Value Added Tax (VAT) but some auctionhouse charges separate VAT (eg. Stanley Gibbons), which makes the successful bidder pays more.

It is strange that we have to pay an additional amount just because we have the privilege of buying things from them. If we go shopping in a supermarket and buy a $1.00 pen, this 15% additional tax means we have to pay an extra 15c - but for what? For the pleasure and privilege of shopping in that shop?

So what do we get for the additional tax we pay? Certainly nothing because we don't get any extra service apart from the basic email correspondence and we don't get free catalogue either. The auctionhouse charge it only because they can and they'll make more money out of it.

Surely they should charge the seller (or vendor) more because they are the ones using the service from the auctionhouse. For example if a consignment of stamps is received from a seller, the auctionhouse has to research for the stamps, revalue them, making estimation, take pictures and publicise them in a catalogue and then advertise the upcoming auction in stamp magazines or internet etc. So it is reasonable to charge the vendors a good percentage of the final price, but why charge the buyer?

The only reason I could think of is that they are taking the advantage of the fact that no two collections are the same. Scarcity is the keyword. Buyers would go an extra mile just to get hold of rare and good collections, and some buyers of course wouldn't mind paying a little more as long as they can get their desired items. This simply reflects the basic tenet of supply and demand. In order to get a quality supply, the auctioneer would not overcharge the seller, but because there is a strong demand in philatelic materials, they feel they should make full use of it by charging the buyer as well (and make them 15% richer).

A buyer's premium, as cool as it may sound, is simply a rip off. Nothing else. It is used by many auctionhouse elsewhere and not limited to the stamps business.

The question is, is it legal? Well no one has challenged the practice before so it could be legal. However, because the buyer gets nothing for the 15% charge (or whatever the rate is), it can be considered a "levy" or "tax" or "extortion" which is illegal by the standard of the European law. So maybe somehow someone would bring this matter into the attention of the European court and outlaw this shameful practice. Just my 2 cents...

Saw this cover in ebay sometime ago but I'm not sure what exactly it was. The heading says "THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY" similar to the government official cover eg. OHMS. The only postmark on the cover is the red ink London Paid postmark, 7 Dec 1890. No other postmarks from North Borneo. Is this kind of cover commonly used by the company in 1890s? Has anyone got any information about this?

*****

Another interesting stampless OHMS cover from North Borneo to Denmark. It is marked with Jesselton 20c Paid postmark dated 22 Feb 1956. The lower left corner of the cover is also strucked with violet cachet of the Department of Posts & Telegraphs, Colony of North Borneo, Jesselton. There is certainly no reference on this postmark in Proud's book, which makes it a nice collectable.

Imagine you are given the task of presenting the essence of your country's philatelic history in one-page stock card. What sort of postmarks or stamps would you put and why?

A quick glance into this collection gives you that sense of historical appeal, capturing the very essence of North Borneo's rich philatelic history and not to mention the thrill of looking into some of the rarest North Borneo postmarks!

It appeared in an online auction site (not ebay) about 2 weeks ago and ended in 2 Nov 2010. The site's estimated price was way undervalued at £180-£220 (of course the final price was way beyond that range).

Generally speaking the collection presents a nice mix of old and new postmarks. Some of the most notable postmarks are:

GANTIAN.

Gantian simply means a "replacement" or "substitution" in Malay. The town is so named because it was used as a substitution of the earlier settlement in Gaya island after being burned down by Mat Salleh. The Gantian cds in the collection is struked in black ink and shows a date of 13 FEB 1900, consistent with the D2 type postmark. Although there is a slight fault in the year on the postmark, it can be overlooked considering the fact that it is generally an excellent cds of this extremely rare town.

Equally interesting postmark on the horizontal pair of violet 3 cents of the 1887-1892 stamps. The cds is strucked in black ink and shows the upper half of the cds. The date is not visible although the "B" code on top of the date can be seen (not sure what it indicates). The numbers of letters received or dispatched from the post office are not known but from Nov 1886 - Jan 1887 only about $ 24.50 of the stamps sold.

Mempakul town still exists today. It is situated on the shore of Brunei Bay facing the Labuan island. It is about 3 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu towards the more well-known town of Menumbok due to ferry service to Labuan. The Mempakul postmark in the collection is struked in black ink on the 5 cents stamp of 1892 issue, showing the right half of the cds. The date is 25 MAY 1897, consistent with the D2 type postmark. In general, there are 3 types of Mempakul cds, all of which are very rare.

Elopura postmark 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). 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. The year in the Elopura cancellation in the lot is unclear, it could be the genuine postally used cds or that of favoured cancels.

There are many more postmarks worth mentioning such as the nice TAWAO cds, the PAPAR, HONG KONG, SANDAKAN, BEAUFORT etc.

P/s: Comments are welcomed!

Terms such as trans-pacific, trans-atlantic, China clipper, Pacific clipper covers, Pan-American airways etc are very confusing to me; so I decided to read up on the topic and skim through the vast resources in the internet. These terms are quite important to know because many interesting and unique pre-WWII covers bear these words and not knowing them means you'll miss some of the greatest things in collecting postal history.

Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Clipper Service

Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic are just two of the many routes in the Pan American Airways service. The Pan American Airways (PanAm) was the premier American air carrier from 1920s before its collapse in 1991. "Clipper" simply refers to a 19th century sailing ship but the term is very synonymous to the company because they named their aircrafts with the word "clipper" (e.g. China clipper). This is probably to show the image of sailing through the blue sky to exotic and distant destinations.



The China Clipper passes over the San Francisco waterfront at the start of the inaugural commercial flight across the Pacific Ocean.


China clipper is the name for one of the company's aircraft, and is esentially a Martin M-130 flying boat. Only three M-130s were built: China clipper, Hawaii clipper and the Phillipine clipper. A fourth flying boat called the Russian clipper (designated M-156) was built for the Soviet Union. The China clipper, being the first of the four flying boats of the company, is important because it was the first airmail flight across the Pacific. On November 22, 1935, China clipper 'sailed' from San Francisco for Manila. This event marked the first trans-pacific airmail flight.



A cover sent to US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt from the trans-Pacific first flight



The Trans-Pacific Route

The first trans-Pacific route was designated FAM-14 (Foreign Air Mail Route). From 1935-1939, FAM-14 served as the only route connecting USA to Asia. However, as the World War II seemed inevitable and fears of normal delivery being attacked, the volume of mails carried in the Pacific clipper service began to increase. This prompted the Pan American Airways to open another route in the Pacific region, designated FAM-19, connecting the US and southern Pacific with Auckland as a base.

When Italy joined the WWII conflict in 1940, all existing Mediterranean routes for airmails were esentially stopped. This means letters from Asia could not be delivered to western European countries through the Mediterranean routes. As a result, two-oceans airmail service was developed, the trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic route. In general, the Pacific clipper service was much safer, faster and reliable, but also more expensive. This explains why covers flown in the service are usually franked with high values stamps.

North Borneo and the Clipper service

The Pacific clipper service only became available in Singapore in May 1941. Several covers from North Borneo were sent using the service. This is usually characterised by high-value frankings and absence of incoming postmark (eg. Singapore). The last flight of the China clipper left Singapore on November 30, 1941 and arrived Manila the same day. It departed Manila on December 1 and arrived San Francisco on Dec 6. For only a brief period of availability, covers from North Borneo, Sarawak, Malaya etc flown via the clipper are considered very rare.

The rates for the service with regards to North Borneo depends on the service used. From May 26, 1941 ½ oz. letter to Europe via Egypt costs 55c, Europe destination with air to NY and then by sea costs $1.45, while with air throughout (i.e. trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic) costs $2.05. US and Canada destinations costs $1.45 however, on July 3, 1941 the rate was raised to $1.55 per ½oz. Postcards have lower rates. In addition to the standard clipper rates, 2 cent War Tax stamp (for non-domestic destination) is also usually charged.

Summary

China clipper = Name of first flying boat Martin M-130 across the Pacific from USA

Trans- Pacific = Can be FAM-14 or FAM-19, routes of airmails across the Pacific

Trans-Pacific trans-Atlantic = Two oceans service crossing the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by air throughout

References:

Gracephilatelics

Wikipedia

Etc

Further Reading: Sarawak mail carried by the Pan American Airways during WWII
North Borneo Stamps in The Stamps Journal

The list is back again for the most wanted philatelic materials of North Borneo on August and September. September was particularly exciting with hundreds of interesting items listed in ebay. Many rare covers, postcards and postmarks were listed and reached very high hammer prices.

The selection criteria for this list include (a) stamps/philatelic items of North Borneo appearing in ebay, (b) must be available internationally and (c) must be on auction format only. Currency conversion to Euro based on exchange rate in 08/10/10.

Check out the previous months: