Fiscal cancellations are usually better good looking and more interesting as compared to the normal postal cancellations. Not that many years ago, one could pick them up for a small fraction of their catalogue value from most dealers. Nowadays and especially from North Borneo, they are very much sought after and prices have become very competitive.
Fiscal or revenue cancellations can be considered as part of social philately. They tell a story of commerce, the workings of various governmental departments and also the work of certain individuals in the development of the territory.
I am starting off with a commercial cancellation which was not strictly indigenous to North Borneo. This was from the Straits Steamship Company in Singapore. This company was originally founded in 1890 by Theodore Cornelius Bogaardt. Postwar and with diversification, the company did not thrive and eventually taken over by the Keppel Corporation Ltd.
The stamp used here is from the postwar BMA issue and note how the BMA overprint is placed higher and more to the right than normal.
This is the extremely large fiscal cancellation for SUPERINTENDENT OF IMMIGRATION SANDAKAN. It would be marvelous to have the whole cancellation on an intact document if one still exists.
This is the fiscal chop for CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA. In the middle would read Mansfield Bogaardt & Co / AGENTS, the forerunner of the present day well known Chartered Bank.
This is one of the earliest dated fiscal cancellation from North Borneo as it has a clear date of 19 FEB 85. It is possibly an early form of either the Land & Survey Dept or the Judicial Dept cancellation. The later ones only have N Borneo in the lower part as compared to the full name here. It also looks like it was from Sandakan.
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