North Borneo Stamps

Labuan Postal Stationery with St. Settlements Overprint

at 2:46 PM Posted by Marcel |

Labuan Postal Stationery

People say that good wine needs no introduction, but this postcard remained the source of my amazement for the weekend primarily because of the final end price . The card was auctioned in ebay in a 7-day format and ended on the 28 January 2012 with a stagerring US$1,001.60 (£637) after 15 bids! Superficially, the card is a simple enough item with an overprint of the Straits Settlement and a nice Labuan cds - but philatelically speaking, surely it's one of the rarest Labuan/St. Settlement gems!

In July 2011, similar postal stationary of 4 cent was auctioned and reached an even higher final price of £870!

History

Labuan (and Brunei) officially became part of the Straits Settlements administration in 1st January 1907 to 1st January 1942, when the Japanese first landed in Labuan. By letters Patent dated 30 October 1906, Labuan was incorporated with Straits Settlements and ceased issuing its own stamps. It became part of the Colony of North Borneo again in July 1946.

In the initial period within this 35-years-span within the Straits Settlement, most Labuan stamps and postal stationeries were overprinted with the word "Straits Settlements". In a short period of time however, this soon was replaced with the St. Settlements stamps of KEVII and KGV. This then became the norm and explains why some St. Settlement stamps used today bear Labuan cancels.

Sarawak First Air Service 1930s

at 3:03 PM Posted by Marcel |

Sarawak First Air Service, 1930s

I recently stumbled onto this curious, yet amazing document from the Postmaster General of Sarawak to presumably a collector in airmail philately. It first appeared in ebay with an opening bid of £199.99 on 26 December 2011, and ended with a jaw dropping price of £515.67 on 3 January 2012 after 5 bids.

We know that in 1930, there was a seaplane expedition to various cities in British Borneo including Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo. The plane started their voyage in Singapore in 26 May 1930 to Kuching. From there they flew to Sibu and Miri on 30th May 1930 before continued on and reached Kuala Belait and Brunei capital on 1st June 1930. They landed in Jesselton on 2nd June 1930.

The Document

The document is written by the Postmaster General of Sarawak as an Officer in Charge of the new Sarawak Airmail chop. There are three marks in the middle of the letter, the left one bears the Seal of Baram, Sarawak circular mark with the PMG's signature and "o-in-c" below it. The middle aspect is affixed with Sarawak's 4c stamp of Brooke and is cancelled with the circular "Air Service" postmark, the left side then bears the air service mark alone.

The document reads:

"I got yesterday, the new air postmark stamp of Sarawak which is left by the o-in-c [officer in charge?] to stamp such letters, official, as he wishes to send by airmail. The services consist of two months and is the first ever run in Borneo. Though it has not really started yet, I send you a Sarawak chop as in future(?) it may be of interest as the first air service in Borneo. It is put on with my own fair hand and I'm not sure if it isn't against the law?! "

This is certainly a great document and surely it's an illegal one? :)

Related reading:
North Borneo First Airmail 1930
Brunei First Airmail 1930

50 Fabulous Stamps of the British Empire

at 1:49 PM Posted by Marcel |

"A Selection of the most historic, most beautiful, oddest and rarest philatelic items from British territories overseas"

Fabulous Stamps of British Empire

Stamp magazine UK recently published a 116-page guide magazine on the 50 Fabulous Stamps of the British Empire. The guide came about for the first time in a celebration of the philatelic achievement of the British Empire.

50 great stamps/issues from 50 different colonies were chosen for us to marvel at their legacy - stamps that combined artistic beauty with eminent practicality with fascinating stories and wonderful rarities.

And of course, Sarawak and North Borneo stamps issues were among the 50 distinctive list.

No 18 - Sarawak's first stamp issue - Portrait of Rajah Sir James Brooke

Queen Victoria's face is perhaps the most recognised portrait in philately due to extensive portrayal in early British (and Empire) stamps. The penny black for example portrays the Queen's face for the first time in philatelic history. However, her majerty's face wasn't the only British sovereign portrayed on the early stamps. In 1869, Sarawak's first stamp was issued depicting the face of the white rajah - Sir James Brooke.

James Brooke was born in India to English parents. He gained control of Sarawak from the Sultan of Brunei by helping to quell an uprising against the sultan. He later became the Governor of the neighbouring British Colony of Labuan and introduced reforms, fought off pirate attacks and brought greater stability to the region.

James' Brooke personal correspondence, which he transported personally in his yacht to Singapore before posting in the normal way, graced and enriched Sarawak philately today. Before the first stamp was issued in 1869, Indian stamps were used for overseas postage. Unfortunately, James Brooke never lived to see his face on the stamps. He died nine months before they went on sale...

Example of Rajah Brooke's personal letter written in 1863 to Mrs Browne in London, bearing India stamps.

No 25 - North Borneo's 1894 Issue

Low values of 1894 issue of North Borneo

The low values of North Borneo's 1894 issue was selected among the list. It is a story between beauty and overexploitation in stamps marketing. North Borneo's 1894 issue broke the traditional designs of the 19th century stamps by introducing unrivalled eye-catching designs and noted to be among the most attractive and innovative design around that time. The depictions of Dyak chief, a Malay dhow, a sambar stag, a great argus pheasant, a sago palm tree, an estuarine crocodile and the majestic Mount Kinabalu created desirable philatelic results, delivering a romantic insight into island life.

However, the British North Borneo Company's overexplaitation by means of selling excess material to stamp trade, encouraging varieties, and special ties with a philatelic dealer in London, Mr Parker, tarnished the philatelic reputation of North Borneo.

Today, the stamps market of North Borneo is flooded with an endless myriad of cancelled-to-order remainders, printer's waste, improbable perforations, spurious overprints and of course blatant forgeries. While the market value of North Borneo and Labuan are rising steadily, the presence of the CTOs necessitate the third column in many worldwide stamps catalogue. The many pitfalls faced in collecting North Borneo stamps cause many aspiring collectors to avoid this country altogether...

Happy New Year 2012!!!

at 5:29 PM Posted by Marcel |

Wishing everyone a prosperous New Year 2012!

May this new year brings us more exciting collectibles, stamps and new philatelic discoveries!

Have a fun celebration!!!

Salvaged North Borneo Mail - Comet Crash near Calcutta 1953

at 8:10 AM Posted by Marcel |

Type 1: "Comet" Crash, Near Calcutta

Type 2: "Comet" Crash, Near Galcutta.

Salvaged Mail, Comet Crash, 1953

Anthony must be a happy man to have in his possession, the two types of Salvaged mails of the Comet crash near Calcutta in 2nd May 1953. There are two types of such cachet, the first one has the right spelling of "Calcutta" while the second one has a wrong spelling of "Galcutta". Both are usually strucked in violet/blue ink.

There is no official record as to how many mails from North Borneo were on board in the ill-fated flight, certainly very few have been seen so far. The topmost cover appeared in ebay on December 2011 with a final price of GBP 182, while the one above appeared in September 2010. There is a water staining on both covers, more notable in the topmost cover - this should perhaps be preserved and should serve as a vivid reminder of the devastating tragedy.

In May 2, 1953, a BOAC comet-1 brought 43 people on board from Calcutta airport to London. It was thought that the plane then crashed 6 minutes after taking off from Calcutta airport due to 'exceptionally' severe tropical storm. This killed all 43 passengers abroad.

Related reading:
Comet Crash near Calcutta 1953
North Borneo Stamps

Interesting Postmarks/ Fiscal Cancels

at 1:02 PM Posted by Marcel |

Serene Mount Kinabalu seen from Pekan Nabalu

I finally had 2 weeks holiday, a perfect timing to escape the bitter European winter. Although planned at the very last minute, I eventually decided to spend sometime traversing the jungles of Mount Kinabalu and to enjoy the relaxing steammy hot spring at Poring as well as to amazed myself at the Langanan waterfall some 3.5 Km deeper in the jungle from Poring. My holiday in Sabah was very brief (barely a week) so I had no chance to meet the other fellow stamp collectors of which I quite regretted. Nevertheless, everything else went well and the short break was fun and clearly the right choice for me..

Nonetheless, ebay went on as usual. Many new lots listed daily, some are notably rare while many are just the usual 'bread and butter' of stamps business. Some of the interesting lots are as follows:

1. Sandakan Double Ring CDS on $10

This near-perfect $10 stamp with nice Sandakan double ring cds attracted 20 bids from 14 bidders. Sold by Philip Malcolm of Principalityauctions, it presents a 'rare example of used' SG86 and ended with a final price of US$203.50. This is certainly a 'cheap' ending price, considering that people nowadays are willing to pay a handsome sum of money even for a $10 with CTO (as Nancy would tell).

Now, all this is assuming that the postmark is genuine, which in this case looks suspicious enough. The date, especially the month and year are unclear. The year is probably 1908, which if true, would be totally a give out to its authenticity because double ring cds of Sandakan are used only starting in 1930s. There are a few other distortions in the year which would be an anomaly if genuine.

2. Jesselton CDS on Postage Due Stamp

These two stamps present a blatant postmark forgery of Jesselton. The date of 20 AU 49 is arranged in horizontal line within the single ring cds, mimicking Jesselton D32. The upper half of the cds is inscribed "JESSELTON" while the lower half is inscribed "NORTH BORNEO". Of note there is a dash before the Jesselton, seen on the 2c stamp. The 8c stamp ended with GBP98 and the 2c stamp with GBP41.

3. The Seal of The General Court of Labuan on $1

The $1 with the seal of the general court of Labuan was listed in ebay, hidden among other less inspiring North Borneo stamps. It was sold by a French seller from Lyon, and ended with a surprisingly low value of US$67 after 23 bids. The postmark, although appear small in the overall lots, presents a sharp and clear struck, quite clearly showing the two unicorns supporting a shield at the centre with a crown on top. Below there is a Latin inscription 'DIEU ET MON DROIT'. The $10 Labuan stamp on the right, also bearing the same seal is for comparison (not mine), selling at multi thousands US dollars if you're interested. :)

4. The Residency of Sillam on $2

This $2 stamp bears a large violet fiscal cancel, presumed to be THE RESIDENCY OF SILLAM. The cancel is unclear, only showing part of the inscription above (THE RESIDEN..). There is some smudgy appearance of the arms of the company at the centre. Ended with a final price of GBP45 after 8 bids.

Vintage Photos of North Borneo 1900-20s

at 1:46 PM Posted by Marcel |

Vintage Photos of North Borneo

Nothing is more thrilling than to discover the early vintage pictures of North Borneo! An album full of vintage photos appeared recently in ebay with an final price of close to GBP500. The album is presented to Mr. E. Horton, the editor and superintendent of Government Printing Office on his retirement (1902-23). These unique black and white photos present an interesting glimpse into the historical North Borneo and some would not only stir your emotions but also brings you into a journey back in 100 years or so: