The earliest North Borneo Stamp
was the 2 cent red brown, designed by Mr. Thos. MacDonald, and lithographed by
Messrs. Blades and Blades in 1883, in which year it was on sale in this
Territory. The design of the stamp was simple, and, effective. It depicted the
Company's arms without supporters. The inscriptions 'North Borneo' and
'Postage' appeared above, and the tablet of Value below the arms. Chinese and
Jawi inscriptions of value were shown in the frame. This design, save for the
minor changes to which was referred , was used for all Borneo stamps below the
25 cents value till 1894.
During 1883, stamps of the 50
cents and $1 values were also printed. The design was the Company's Arms with
supporters. What the precise postal arrangements and rates were in the very
early days of the Company is obscure. In 1883, however, Government Notification
No. 63 defined postal rates, which were 2 cents for local, Labuan, and Brunei
letters, and 8 cents on letters to the Straits, China and
Japan. Letters to Europe, sent via Singapore, in addition to the 2 cents Borneo stamp, required
stamping with a 10 cents Singapore stamp. The inconvenience of having only 2
cents stamps was soon felt, and a number of the current 2 cents stamps were
surcharged in the same year with the 8 cents value., These stamps, surcharged
in 1883, have considerable value, {£ 13 each), to philatelists.
In 1884, a fresh set of values
was printed as follows; 1/2c, lc, 2c, 4c, 8c, 10c. Letters forwarded
via Singapore, Hong Kong, and
Labuan, still required stamping with stamps of those countries, which, as in the
Government Notification No. 51 of 1884, were on sale at the Post Offices at Sandakan , Kudat and Gaya. The
1884 issue was not a very long lived one. In 1886-87 the panic stamp, with a new inscription was
introduced, the principal changes being the substitution of 'British North
Borneo' for 'North Borneo,' and a different positioning of the word 'Postage.'
The issue was a comprehensive one running from the 1/2c, lc, 2c, 4c, 8c, 10c,
25c, 50c, $1, $2, and in 1889, to the $5 and $10. It is difficult to understand
what postage use the stamps of high value could be expected to fulfill though of course they were also used for revenue
purposes.
In 1889, came another change in
design and inscription, the 1886 design, being slightly reduced in size, and
'Postage and Revenue' being substituted for 'Postage'. A shortage of the 2c,
and 8c values in 1890, led to the 25c. stamp of this issue being surcharged
with those values.
On 1st January, 1891, this State
adhered to the Postal Union Convention which fixed a flat letter
rate of 2£d. amongst convention
countries. After being fixed for a short time at 8 cents, the
equivalent postage rate in North
Borneo currency was reduced, by Government Notification 150 of July, 1891, to 6
cents per oz. . To meet the demand for the new denomination , the 8c. and 10c. stamps
of the 1889 issue were surcharged 6c, though in 1892 a propel- 6c. stamp was
put on sale in Borneo. It is interesting to note that with the entry of this
country , North Borneo, into the Postal Union Convention, the old practice,
whereby Singapore Hong Kong , and Labuan stamps had to affixed to letters
posted via those ports was ended. From now onwards only B. N. B. stamps, issued
by this Government, were used on all letters posted to places outside the
Territory. It is when we come to the year 1894 that we get what may; be called
the first of the classic issues of our stamps. The issue was designed and
printed, as were all issues in subsequent years, by Messrs. Waterlow And Sons.
The stamps were the lc, (Dyak), 2c, (Sambur deer); 3c, (Sago palm), 5c, (Argus
phesant), 6c, (Arms of the Company), 8c, (a war prahu); 12c, (a crocodile),
18c. (a view of Mt.Kinabalu), 24c, (Arms of the Company with Supporters). In,
the same year, a further issue of the 25c> 50c, $1, and $2 stamps of the
same design as the 1889 -issue, but bearing the. Inscription 'State of North
Borneo', was printed by Messrs. Blades, East and Blades.
The 1894 issue is a most
attractive one, and, but for changes in the frames and borders, is the same as
the issue of 1897. What the reason for the changes introduced in 1897 were,
remains obscure, but they served for several years to ruin the philatelic reputation
of the country. It is true that the 1897 issue bears additional Malay and
Chinese inscriptions of value, that lack of such could hardly have been the
sole cause of the change. In 1900, a 4c, (orang utan) and 1902 a 10c, (Bruang),
and 16ci (Railway train), were printed, which are generally listed with the
1897 issue. The mention of the railway-train is an interesting illustration of
how philately marches with topical events, for the Beaufort-Weston section of
the State Railway had been completed in the year of the issue of the 16 cents
stamp. In 1899, all British Empire countries accepted the Imperial Penny
Postage, and our postage rates were lowered from 6 cents to 4 cents per § oz.
To meet the shortage of 4 cents stamps, there was a surcharge of contemporary
stamps with this value. The number of stamps so surcharged was 10,000 each of
the 5c, 6c, 8c, 12c, 18c, 24c, 25c, 50c, $ 1, $2, $5, and $10 values. In 1888,
North Borneo had received the boon of British Protection, and from 1901 until
1909 all Borneo stamps were overprinted "British Protectorate".
As may be imagined, many errors
in overprinting occurred, and some of the stamps bearing the more uncommon of
these errors have considerable value. From 1st January, 1890 to 1905, the
island of Labuan was administered by the Chartered Company and contemporary
North Borneo stamps, surcharged 'Labuan' were current in that island. But the story
of these stamps more properly belongs to the postal history of Labuan. In 1909,
came the second of the classic issues.
The stamps then printed are the
same in design as it was currently used in 1935. It is true that in 1927 a
different perforation was introduced, but to the layman, as opposed to the
collector, this makes no difference. The issue has its good and its weak
points, but principally, its longevity has, in fact, restored North Borneo's
reputation among stamps collectors and dealers. In criticism, the one cent
tapir was condemn , of whose existence in North Borneo there is no proof. The
elephant depicted on the 5c, and the cocatoo on the 10c, are not fauna which flourish
in North Borneo to any marked degree, and the megapod shown on the 24c, looks
more like an emu than a megapod. However be this as it may, the issue has been
a most successful one, and is worth a page in every collector's album.
During the war years [WWI], this
issue was surcharged in various ways to" raise money for the Red Cross. While
serving to fulfil their purpose, these surcharges are also of interest to philatelists,
and many of the stamps, owing to the restricted number of their issue, have
high values. It is interesting to note, that at least two consignments of
stamps, surcharged for Red Cross funds, and consigned from England to North
Borneo, were lost at sea through enemy action. In 1922, when all Malayan
Governments were possibly affected by the same virus, this issue was surcharged
' Malaya- Borneo Exhibition' as a memento of the Exhibition in which our State
participated. The stamps therefore have some sentimental value, but we can only
condemn as purely fictitious, the price this set now fetches in the stamp
market. In 1923, a temporary shortage of 3 cent stamps led to the 4c. stamp
being surcharged 3c. These stamps are catalogued as being worth 2s. 6d. each, and
we know of one lucky person who has at least 150 used specimens. We have
alluded to the 1927 issue. The change in perforation was from 14 to 12£, but
the stamps were materially the same as those of the 1909 issue, the only
changes being, apart from the perforation, that 2 cent stamp was printed in
claret instead of green, that the 18c. was surcharged and issued as the 20c.
And so till 1931, when the Company celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
granting of its Charter. The new Jubilee issue became current on 1st
January, 1931, and remained in circulation till its withdrawal on 31st
December, 1931. The designs were 3c. (Head of Murut), 6c. (Orang utan), 10c. (Dyak
Warrior), 12c. (Mount Kinabalu), 25c. (Clouded leopard), $i, $2, and $5, (the
Arms of the Company). Like all commemoratives, the stamps were on the large
side and somewhat unweildy. Of the values, the $1 stamp, thanks to a good and
well balanced design, is the most handsome. Coming to the lower values, it is interesting
to note that the original of the 3 cent stamp was a photograph taken by Mr. G.
C. Woolley, a former Editor of this paper. On the 6c once more appears an
orang-utan, this time in addition to a more orthodox
spelling of its nomenclature, the facial characteristics of this anthropoid are
really faithfully portrayed. Unless it was in memory of the Dyaks who largely
filled the ranks of the Constabulary in the early days of the Company, we can
assign no good reason for the inclusion of a Dyak warrior (10c) in a set of
North Borneo commemoratives, for it is not North Borneo but Sarawak which is
the Dyak country. The 12c. fails to do justice to Kinabalu, in fact to those
familiar with the mis-en-scene, it is a very strange Kinabalu that is
depicted. We suspected that the designer was the same as the person who
designed the snow covered mountain and canoe of savage warriors which appear on
boxes of Darvel cigars, but it is not so. These stamps were withdrawn from
circulation on 31st December, 1931, no remaindering being permitted by the
authorities. Approximately 254,000 Jubilee Stamps of all denominations were
therefore destroyed at the State Treasury, Sandakan, on the last day of 1931,
and later, when all unsold stocks had been received from various outstation Post
Offices and Sub-post offices, a further 25,000 stamps of all denominations were
incinerated on 4th February, 1932.
For rounding off the subject,
mention must be made of the postage due stamps, though these are
only either the current stamps,
or stamps of obsolete issues suitably overprinted 'Postage Due'. A colour change,
more fortituitous than designed, we presume, in the 16c. (hornbill) from black
and brown lake to black and red-brown, has resulted in current stamps of the
latter shade rising to ten shillings each in value.
North Borneo as yet has no air
mail stamps. Inland Air mails however, have been carried on
a few occasions, and a few
covers, franked with a special cachet, exist. The earliest of such air
mails which we have been able to trace was the mail carried from Jesselton to
Kudat on either 2nd or 3rd June, 1930, by one of the flying boats which visited
the State under the command of Squadron Leader G. E. Livock. These covers would
have value only in a highly specialized collection of North Borneo stamps. With
the development of the Air Mail services between Singapore and Europe a local
demand arose for Air Mail labels, and a number of these were printed at the
Government Printing Office, Jesselton, as follows, on 24th February, 1934,
2,500, on 16th April, 1934,
5,000 labels. Aerial philately is fast gaining in popularity, and no doubt
these labels will one day acquire value as have the postage stamps of the earlier issues.
