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This was a fiscal seal used on government documents and transactions at Kudat which was the initial main seat of administration of North Borneo until it was transferred to Sandakan towards the end of 1883. It was initially in blue but black ink was used later on. The reason was that coloured inks were easily washed away and the stamp reused again fraudulently. Black inks are more resilient in this respect. This was also the case with the Penny Blacks which were initially cancelled with a beautiful red Maltese Cross. Chalk surfaced printing paper was introduced later for better ink retention.
The British Protectorate stamp would imply prior and post 1901 usage of this seal in black. The 1883 SG3 which was cancelled in blue raised some interesting questions as it also possesses a clear Straits Singapore type cancellation. This would indicate that this seal was also used as a postal cancel, most probably prior to the arrival of postal hand stamps in early 1884.
This is the seal from Silam (spelled with 2 Ls) which is in a beautiful crimson red colour. It is very much more elusive than the Silam Lion intaglio cancellation. The pair of 1888 50c adhesives gives an approximation of when this seal was used. If any of you can read Jawi, can you tell me what it says in the inscription at the bottom. It is reconstructed and bound to be inaccurate. And also it is possible that Kudat and Sillam seals have different Jawi inscriptions on their respective seals. Though concurrent, I believe there were no similar seals for Sandakan and Gaya.
