The elusive Mempakul 7 bar cancellation (1897-1898). The stamp on the left has 2 and a bit thick bars with the right dimensions. Interestingly, this stamp has a faint blue postmark, possibly a transit marking. The stamp on the right has a 9 bar Labuan cancellation which often gets mistaken for a Mempakul. NB stamps were used in Labuan especially between 1890 and 1907 when it was administered by the British North Borneo Company.
Update Looking more closely, the blue transit postmark has a year of 1894 and is probably the blue postmark D2 of Kudat. That means the bar cancel of Mempakul dated earlier from what it says in Proud's book. I think this is a case of "double happiness" with 2 rare cancels on one stamp!
Update I have taken note of Gantian's comment. Hopefully, I can clarify this in a later posting.
Sorry to be a killjoy. The stamp on the right appears to be cancelled with the 9-bars of Labuan. The left stamp is more interesting -looks more like 9-bars then 7-bars to me, but you can probably confirm if it matches the printed sample. I would have thought the blue cds of Kudat would automatically link it to Labuan - the normal mail route. However, it is possible if the letter was send from Kudat to Mempakul direct.
ReplyDeleteOphs!, correction - 'then 7-bars' should read as 'than 7-bars'. Careless.
ReplyDelete