More recent acquisitions

Most of these were bought at our recent society auction at a fraction of catalogue prices, much lower than even at online auctions.

This 1886 postal fiscal is one of 3 values. The bar cancellation may mean that it was used postally or more likely a CTO for philatelic purposes.

Postage due labels are said to be more difficult to find in pairs or multiples. Both of these have Lahad Datu cancellations. The upper pair is not damaged at the right margin. My heart sank when I first saw it. It is due to the ink from part of another cancellation.

This SG134e was unloved at the auction. It is not priced in the catalogue even though the mint version carries a tag of £325. This 10c has the slate blue colour frame instead of the commoner slate lilac. It has a faint Jesselton cds.

I was initially attracted by the red Sandakan cancellation on this very nice stamp. Then I realised it has a post date of 23 FEB (18)94 which is a very early date of use for this 1894 issue. The handbook states that this set was issued in January February of 1894. It also states that the earliest postmark seen on this set was 23 FEB 1894. Lo and behold we have the same date here!

New acquisitions

Being a member of the Sarawak Specialist Society does have its benefits. Got these 2 items together for a reasonable price at our recent auction. These are not things one come across that often.

The journal states that this is from a rubber temporary canceller. This is the only date that I have seen but I am sure there are others. I think it is one of the most attractive of the relatively recent cancellations of Sabah. It really has to be on large piece or cover to be fully appreciated.
It reminds me of the similarly attractive large circular postage paid and parcel post cancellations of Jesselton which are fairly uncommon.
Notice how the star on the right is rotated compared to the left. Were these adjustable slugs? And "Sabah" is off centered. It is far from being perfect but temporary cancellers were usually made in haste. I wonder what the reason was in using this?

Quoting from the Sarawak Journal: "On 2nd April 1970 a Mobile Post Office started operation in the Kudat District of Sabah. It operates from Monday to Friday, starting at 8.10.a.m. and finishing at 3.20.p.m. and visiting schools, the Sabah Electricity Board Power Station at Mile 1, Laro Road, the Kudat Hospital and Airport. The classes of business transacted are the same as at ordinary Post Offices."
The MPO6 postmark was changed to this PPB type after a couple of years. PPB stands for Pejabat Pos Bergerak in Berhasa Malaysia which translates to Mobile Post Office. Surprisingly, they still retained the English version for the registration cachets and labels of which there were about 4 or 5 different versions. 


Update I am inserting this Labuan MPO 5 over here even it is not that great an item but it shows the registration label very well. The cds is a P.P.B.1 but it is very faint. This is in place of the earlier MPO5 postmark.

Some early Jesselton items

The post office in Jesselton probably started in September 1900 when the District Office was moved from Gantian. Almost certainly, the company flag was raised on the subsequent New Year 's Day. Gantian was founded in June 1898 after the sacking of Gaya by Mat Salleh in 1897.
Unfortunately, it was a very bad choice with an unsettled harbour. It was also isolated from the mainland by mangrove swamps. But we had a post office and a rare postmark for a large part of 1900 before Gantian was abandoned in favour of Jesselton nearby to the south.
The Gayah post office continued until the end of 1899. Was it possible that Gantian made use of the Gaya canceller in this transitional period? I think this Gantian of old was located fairly near to the the present day Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) campus but do correct me if I am wrong.

This is a fairly early Jesselton D2 cds of 6 MAR 01. Where is D1? Did Proud expect it to be discovered sometime?

One can not asked better than this almost complete Jesselton D2 cds on one of my favourite North Borneo stamps.

This is an almost perfect arrival D2 cds of 19 DEC 00, probably the earliest example of this cancellation on a piece of postal history so far. It was posted from Sandakan on an overpaid card with a short Christmas and New Year greeting or you could say this was an early Christmas card. I wondered whether we are lucky here that we have an arrival cds due to the Sandakan cancellation been so faint. One can just about made out that it was posted 3 days previously.

Kudat D5

When I look at this stamp, I quickly realised why I collect North Borneo. The printing and pictorial content is really the best there was. And then this one has this really beautifully balanced postmark of Kudat D5 with the two Maltese crosses. 

It is probably the third most sought after of early Kudat postmarks after the earliest cancel with the undated double ring D1 and the very rare double ring BNBC fiscal cancellation which you can see by clicking here.

The date of the cancellation  is 13 SEP 97 and D5 was used between late 1895 and mid 1901.

This has an earlier date of NOV 96.

Another yet earlier date of JAN 96 on a postage due stamp. 

The date can not be made out but this must have been a very early use of this cancellation on this 1888 stamp.

I have seen one in blue and I consider that very desirable.