From Nagoya to Jesselton to Labuan to Kuching

This is a rather interesting cover that was acquired recently. It was supposed to be sent from Nagoya in Japan to Kuching in Sarawak via Singapore but somewhat took a different and a very much longer route.

It was postdated at Nagoya as 11.4.17 using the Japanese traditional date system. Japanese in common with Chinese reads from right to left and so this translates as 17 April in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Yoshihito in the Taisho era. This era began in 30 July 1912. So the conventional date of posting in Nagoya would have been 17 April 1923.

It arrived at Jesselton (D13) on 20 May 1923 and then transited at Labuan on 27 My 1923 ( D10 time code D) before arriving at Kuching on 6 JUN 1923 (D17). The whole journey took 7 weeks which was much slower than mail from Europe. It probably would have taken about 2 weeks going via Singapore.

The strange thing is there was no regular boat service between Jesselton and Japan. A Japanese ship called on Sandakan monthly and also the Eastern & Australian line dropped by Sandakan between Australia and Japan. It was quite possible this letter passed through Sandakan but did not received a backstamp. The reason why this route was taken remained unanswered but it should be a rare cover in this instance.  

Magistrate Court Lahad Datu fiscal cancellation and others

This is the MAGISTRATE'S COURT B. N. B. fiscal cancellation for Lahad Datu. Similar format cancellations are also known for Jesselton, Kudat, Tawau, Beaufort, Papar, Tuaran and Kinabatangan. There are quite likely others.

This is a rather interesting unknown cancellation on a NB stamp with "3 CENTS" clearly seen. Was it from NB? Was it a foreign postage due cancellation. Postage due marks are normally denominated in centimes as per UPU regulation. And also PD marks and instructions have to be clear and are normally applied on an unmarked part of the envelope.

The size of this cancellation is similar to that of Sandakan PD2 , the lion postage paid 1 cent cancellation used on the newspaper wrapper for the BNB Herald. The bit of the bar seen at the top on the left resembles end part of the plinth where the lion in PD2 rests. The basic foreign newspaper rate was increased to 4c from 2c  some time in 1921 but by November 1921, 3c was the basic local and foreign rate newspaper carriage rate. This remained the case up till WWll. By this time, the BNB Herald was published at Jesselton.

This is rather unusual and probably uncommon. It is the Sibu Linotype used on 20 May 1946 on a pre war non BMA overprinted stamp. The 1934-41 set was reissue for postal use on 26 April 1946 at the insistence of Rajah Charles Vyner when the BMA stamps were running out. He was against Sarawak becoming a colony. One would not expect to see this prewar set of stamps with North Borneo or Brunei linotype cancellations as they would not have been valid for use in those two countries. The Sarawak linotypes were largely replaced in July 1946 by Australian type and star cancellations.