Two uncommon early company fiscals

They are both probably rare rather than uncommon. Most examples would be too faint or incomplete to be deciphered easily. That is where photoshop becomes invaluable.

The following were truly two of the pioneering business companies in the very early days of British North Borneo.

This 1891 6c surcharged adhesive shows a faint fiscal cancellation of what should have been that of the British Borneo Trading and Planting Company. They extracted timber on a large scale in the Sandakan area.

The company was formed late in 1886 and started building a sawmill in early 1887 on a site on Leila Road a mile from the centre of Sandakan. The early years were financially quite a struggle and only became profitable in 1898. The name had been changed to North Borneo Trading Company Ltd the previous year. It was widely referred to as NBT and continued trading until 1989.

Update 

THE BRITISH BORNEO TRADING AND PLANTING COMPANY, LIMITED,

Orders can now be booked for BILLIAN, MERABOO, RUSSOCK, SERYAH and other Borneo Timber saw into planks, beams, scantlings or to any specification. Price lists and samples sent on application to F. BOULTBEE Manager Steam Saw-Mill Department, British Borneo Trading and Planting Company Limited, Sandakan. All kinds of Agency work undertaken in England, on application to the Secretary of the Company at the Offices

12 Finsbury Pavement, LONDON, E.C.

Sandakan, 29th November, 1887.

The China-Borneo Company Ltd was formed in November 1888 to take over the business interests of E E Abrahamson and Company. Abrahamson was an old hand in early North Borneo having arrived there in 1883. They also built a sawmill along Leila Road. He was in charge until he was dismissed in July 1891 for alleged irregularities. W G Darby was left in control and later became the most prominent expatriate business person in North Borneo. The company was eventually wound up and sold to Harrisons and Crosfield at the end of 1919.

It was very unlikely that Abrahamson was responsible for the AC cancellation that is often seen on North Borneo SG1 and SG3. He arrived in 1883 after some years in Sumatra and Malaya and was initially appointed as manager of the firm Messrs. W. F. Garland and Company Civil Engineer and Surveyors. He later became a partner. He went into business and by 1886 established Abrahamson & Co (BNB Herald July 1 1891). The AC cancellation was primarily used in 1883 and probably early 1884 as well before the official cancellers arrived. The treasury general Alexander Cook was the most likely candidate. 

Update from BNBH 1888

From an Advertisement appearing in our columns it will be noted that the business of Messrs. E. E. Abrahamson & Co., was transferred to The China Borneo Company Limited, on the 24th of November. 

We have before us the Prospectus of The China Borneo Company, Limited. Capital $750,000 divided

into 7,500 shares of $100 each. The object for which the Company has been formed is to take over the business of Messrs. E. E. Abrahamson & Co., Merchants and General Agents at Sandakan British North Borneo. The Business will principally consist of Exporting Timber and the Planting of Tobacco. An Agreement for the purchase of Saw Mills has been made and a grant of 20,000 acres for Tobacco Planting obtained from the British North Borneo Government. The Board of Directors consist of several experienced and influential members of the Hongkong community with Mr. E. E. Abrahamson as Managing Director in Borneo. In these hands the Company has every chance of being a most paying concern and we wish it every success. We note the Share List closes in Hongkong on December 3rd.