These covers appeared in ebay recenty and I thought they were quite eye-catching and beautiful. This one is a nice black and white illustration of Shakespeare's novel As you like it. There is a small writing at the bottom part of the illustration and signed by the painter with letters J, P and K. The cover is addressed to Miss Keasberry of Tirau, Auckland, New Zealand on 21 FE 1912. The sender's rubber stamp is also found at the back reading Labuan B.N.B in violet oval belt with presumably the sender's name, J.P. Keasberry. The cover is franked with Straits Settlement stamp 4 cents and tied with double ring Labuan D8 - the only Labuan postmark with "Post Office" inscription. Backstamped Singapore 26 Feb 1912.

Another cover painted in black and white showing two doves facing each other. Also addressed to Miss A. Keasberry with the sender's handstamp at the back reads Labuan B.N.B, J.P Keasberry. The cover is franked with 4 cents Straits Settlement stamp and tied neatly with Labuan double ring D8 postmark dated A 1 AU 1912. The cover was originally sent to Hamilton, Auckland New Zealand but redirected to Tirau (the red writing). Backstamped Singapore 5 AU 1912 and Hamilton 5 SEP 1912.



I thought the cover was pretty interesting in that it is franked with the 1906-12 Straits Settlement stamp SG160. The cds is not very clear but probably shows the date of 20 8 1913. The lower left quadrant is affixed with the Labuan label no 2298. The is also an interesting AR mark on the top aspect of the cover - representing AR for Advice of Receipt. The cover ended in 4 July 2011 with a final price of £232.

This cover is interesting because of several reasons. The first one is the uncommon combination of frankings. You don't see SG63 and SG108 being used together very often. It shows a contrast between North Borneo earlier stamps and the beginning of pictorials. The second reason is the neat postal markings - the Sandakan D6 dated 15 May 1899 and the R3 registration mark no 4. The back tells more stories including the transit to Labuan, to Brindisi and to its uncommon destination, Hohenstein, Germany. Ended sale in 10.07.11 with a final price of US$260.55.

This classic black & white postcard brings that sentimental feeling of being in the steam train running from Beaufort to Tenom, where the Rayoh Gorge would have been seen. Although the picture is quite boring and probably not the best depiction there is, the postcard itself is nicely franked with four stamps overprinted British Protectorate and tied with good Kudat cancels. The card bears the sender's message, written in Kudat in 15 Jan 1906, although not entirely visible. This postcard is one of the few pictured postcards produced by the company and as such bears the Arms of the Chartered Company. Sold in ebay for £118 and ended in 12.07.11.

This cover is exciting because it is an uncommon cover franked 16 cents , registered at Beaufort,10 FEB 17, to St. Gall, Switzerland. The feint Beaufort strikes are in a blue- black ink. The cover was censored 9 in France) with remnants of censor tape on the front ( tied by 'Ouvert' strike partially over the 10 cents value to the right of which is a violet '17' censor number). The interesting part is the handstamped Registration 'label' dated 10 FE 17 and numbered 183, currently not listed in Proud's. It could represent either R2 or R3. The back has more censor tape also tied with an oval '117' Ouvert strike. There is a Jeselton transit ( 10 FEB 1917), Singapore transit ( 20 FE) and St.Gallen receiver ( 31 III 17). There is the remnants of a black wax seal which may have had a Beaufort Borneo Rubber Company impression. Although has many faults and generally looked messy, the cover reached US$217.50 final price on 17.07.11.

This beautiful hand-painted cover was recently listed in ebay and reached an impressive final price of US$1,975.50! So what makes this cover so special? Well, the answer is pretty obvious - the Karl Lewis factor! This legendary American is well known in the philatelic world for producing many marvellous hand-painted covers. Based in Yokohama Japan, Lewis made arrangements for covers to be mailed from exotic countries to stamps collectors, primarily in the US. His advertisement reads "COVERS FROM THE RADIANT ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH SEAS &c. TYPICALLY hand-painted of these islands from photographs and sketches I have made of many of them. Franked with the stamps of these islands &c. MAILED DIRECT TO YOU at TWENTY FIVE CENTS EACH..."

The cover above is postmarked November 20 1940. There is a brown censor tape on the right side with "Passed By Cenor 106 Singapore" rubber stamp on the front and reverse. It also includes a typed and signed letter from Karl Lewis to the addressee on his illustrated letterhead from Yokohama Japan dated October 31 1940. The scene depicted in the cover is a village by the river in Kuching, different from the other scene he usually depicts for Sarawak - The Datu's Road.

From the letter to the recepient, it is quite apparent that Lewis wasn't aware of the difference between British North Borneo and Sarawak. He writes "...but cannot send from Jesselton; as I have no correspondent there, and it would be impossible to send different cities from one island." The sender's address is Kuching, Sarawak, British North Borneo suggesting that Lewis must have thought that Sarawak was part of North Borneo rather than a separate country in British Borneo. From the letter, Lewis wrote that he had no correspondent in Jesselton, therefore, it follows that we won't have any hand-painted covers of scenes in North Borneo - Neither do we have any North Borneo/Labuan stamps franked on Lewis covers.

Another interesting aspect of this letter is that it was written in 31 Oct 1940 and mailed from Kuching on 20 November 1940. We know that in Dec. 29, 1939, at the age of 74, Lewis suffered a paralytic stroke. This means the letter and the cover above must have been produced while he was battling with the disease with possible limitations in movements. In two letters written Feb 8 and 10, 1940, he said he was only able to sit up for two hours in the mornings and afternoons. Lewis died in 19 May 1942 while still under Japanese house arrest, leaving behind great treasures in philatelic world and beautiful hand-painted covers to be admired for many generations to come.