Brunei's Most Valued Stamp

This is probably the most wanted of all Brunei stamps. Valued at five digit, not many can be found and many are fakes. I bought this a few weeks ago and it has just arrived. Honestly I am not even sure whether this is a fake or otherwise but judging by the price, it would not be an original. But if you do pay a lot higher how would you know it is not a fake? I have seen some of the authentication and I am not convinced either. So caveat emptor. Buy and pay at your own peril.

Sarawak's 3rd Series of Stamps 1875

Continuing on the Sarawak stamps. This set is the third series of stamps that Sarawak issued. These were issued in 1875, a full 20 years before Brunei's first issuance in 1895.

The first two series were single issues but this issue was multiple calues of 2c, 4c, 6c, 8c and 12c. This set complements the second series of 3c which was issued four years earlier in 1871. According to some catalogues, the second series 3c were also overprinted 2c, so there were some need for smaller value stamps before this series was produced. This series was in use for around 13 years before a fourth series was issued in 1888.

Brunei Postmark Muara 1914

I wanted to win this but I failed to realise the intense competition. This eventually sold for around GBP48.

Historically and philately, if there is such a word, this a very important stamp and postmark. Muara up to 1921 was administered by the Brookes. This include the postal service using stamps from Sarawak. Sometime before 1921 the Brunei postal service started there. So this postmark showed that at least by 1914, Sarawak stamps were no longer in use in Muara.