North Borneo 1883 SG 1, "2" and 3

These were the first stamps of  North Borneo. They were engraved by Thomas Macdonald and printed by Blades, East and Blades in London. SG 1 was issued in March 1883 followed in June by SG 2 & 3. The second stamp has a fake overprint on a later, more common stamp issued in 1886 with a different perforation. It should have been a perf 12 rather than a 14.
2c was the rate for post within North Borneo and 8c was required for overseas mail via Singapore or Hong Kong. The overprints were carried in the government offices of the Borneo Herald at Sandakan.
Stamps 1 and 3 have Sandakan blue cancellations. Stamp 2 has the infamous bar cancel which was also used to cancel remainders in London (CTOs) to be sold on to collectors below face value like selling coloured bits of paper at a premium. However similar bar cancels were used postally in NB at the same time. You need good eyes to distinguish between them. There will be further information in a future post.