postal used bar cancels

My study of NB bar cancellations is getting more interesting. This bird stamp of 1892 appears to have a 11 bar cancel which should exclude a CTO which is normally made of 14 bars. It is also not placed at the corner of the stamp as most CTOs tend to be. However I can find no further information on this 11 bar in oval cancellation at present which makes it even more intriguing. Is it a fake cancel? If so there should be more of it around. And also why bother to CTO a stamp that is worth very much more in mint. The other possibility is that this is a partial 14 bar cancel but the there seems to be a single longest bar in the middle whereas the 14 bar cancel is symmetrical in the middle portion.
Update Having examined it more carefully in comparison with a similar partial 14 bar strike, I am not so certain of my original hypothesis. It is probably a 14 bar but ?postally used. I have been advised to get Ted Proud's book on postmarks, make a tracing on a transparency and then superimposed to compare.

This 1888 3c violet is unfortunately a much faded copy with 3 different cancellations. It has a pen cancel of a date in red, possibly fiscal. There is part of a thin bar type cancel on the left margin, possibly and very speculatively, the 8 bar cancel of Labuan which is rarely seen. It also has a thicker bar cancel at the left top margin. Difficult to estimate how many bars there should be in total but it appears to be rectangular in shape rather than oval. A 4 bar rectangular cancel was recorded for Labuan. Possibly this stamp was used there. Unusual and I hope to find out more about it. A very very interesting item indeed.

This 1888 5c stamp has a full on 14 bar chop. It would very unusual for a CTO to be placed centrally as it would be quicker to try to frank 4 stamps at a time as they were doing whole sheets. Also the stamps with postal used 14 bar on envelopes that I have seen tend to have this franking placed centrally.

This 1888 1c has 16 bars visible is probably a 17 bar cancellation. Unfortunately, no sharp ends are accessible and it is not very "eye" shaped. Perhaps those features are more typical of the 18-19 bar cancels. 

This 1888 3c violet has a full on cancel with 15 bars visible is probably an 18-19 bar postally used item.

 

This 1886 4c stamp is again a rather faded item. There is a 13 bar oval cancel with 2 Sandakan postmarks in red even though this bar cancellation is more associated with Kudat and Elopura..

This 2c 1888 stamp is more uncertain. I was drawn by the unusual shape of what seems to be a 14 bar cancel. The bars are irregular in thickness and direction. It looks like a worn chop. Would that make it more likely that it was applied in a busy post office rather than the clean pristine appearance we tend to see with a CTO? But then it is a corner cancellation. And also with stamps of this issue, one wonders whether the stamp itself is a clever forgery with a fake cancel.
Update Anon, I think you are right. It is a Fournier probably.

A thick bar cancellation which corresponds well with the 9 bar cancel of  Labuan. This stamp was probably used in Labuan. The 7 bar Mempakul cancellation is a possibility but I think the bars are thicker.

Silam post office

Rightly, this may be the most sought after postmark of  North Borneo. Potentially, it is also the most beautiful of postmarks but unfortunately, the ink used does not adhere properly. Very often it appears as a smudge. The hand stamp has been applied upside down on this stamp. One should see most of the lion except the tail and also quite a few the words can be deciphered.  This post mark would look at its very best intact on an envelope. There are 3 colours recorded, blue, black and orange red. Most of the examples are in blue. Orange red is quite rare and black is even more uncommon even though I think this is probably a variation of the blue shade. I have seen copies with a blue black variation in colour. To the learned, it is also described as a negative seal. This is because the image is contained in the inkless part of the postmark.

Silam stills exist and is probably smaller than in its heyday as it is now known as Kampung(village) Silam. It lies 10 miles to the south west of  Lahad Datu on the coast of the Darvel Bay near the trunk road between Lahad Datu and Tawau. This road also runs north to Sandakan. It came into existence as an experimental garden in 1881. Tobacco grew very well in the area. Many estates were set up largely ran by Dutch companies and at one stage, tobacco accounted for a very significant percentage of overseas exports from North Borneo. However, with time, demand and value declined especially after WW1 and most of the tobacco estates went bust. By June1899, Silam was noted by the British North Borneo Herald, in its fortnightly review, to be in terminal decline due to lack of produce and and having a very poor harbour. 

The Silam strikes were first used in 1888, apparently as a mail bag seal surcharging the top of a batch of letters. The mail were then sent on to Sandakan to be sorted and a secondary date stamp  of Sandakan applied. The post office was closed in December 1895 and the mail operations transfered to Lahad Datu which was outgrowing its neighbour. It appears that the postmark continued to be used in Lahad Datu up to 1897. It really intrigues me as to why Silam was able to use such an unique and beautiful hand stamp (lucky for us!). Who authorised it, designed it etc etc?  

Of recent interest, the cancellation of a coal fired power station to be located at Silam is certainly good news for the surrounding environment.

Click on map to see Silam  

GoogleEarth: One could see a side road leading from the main trunk road with some houses or shops on either side. This leads onto a village/kampung built on the shallow bay on stilts presumably. There are about 50 houses here. The surrounding area is given mostly to planting with oil palms but it is good to see that there are still some large areas of what looks like secondary forest.  

My second Silam! Let us hope there are more out there. It was described as black but it is more bluish gray.