Unusual Postmark Cancellations on Brunei Stamps

If you just take a glance at these stamps from my collection, you would not have noticed anything different. Just ordinary used Brunei stamps. They are old though. The 1 cent was issued in 1908 and the 5 cent was issued in 1916.

Look closely. Look at the postmarks.

Now you can see. The 5 cent stamp was postmarked Labuan on 9 November 1922. The 1 cent was postmarked Kingstown on 6 September 1910. You all know where Labuan is. Kingstown? That's somewhere in the West Indies.

Theory? Probably the stamps when affixed to the envelope escaped from being postmarked in Brunei but when it landed in Labuan, the postmaster there affixed the cancellation so that the stamp can not be used. Similarly with the Kingstown postmark. The other interesting bit was that someone in Brunei wrote a letter to someone in Kingstown. If the stamp can talk, what interesting tales can it have.

Straits India Coin 1862

I have not been buying coins for quite a while but when I saw these set of Straits Settlement's coins came up on eBay, I could not resist the temptation to add the coins to my collection even though I already have them. This one is nothing fancy but this coin is historical as it marked the transition for the Straits Settlement to be separate from the British rule in India. Before that the Straits Settlement were governed as part of India and hence Indian coins were used. This 1862 coin marked India Straits 1862 marked the beginning of a separate rule for the Straits Settlement government.

Saudi Arabia Miniature Sheet 2012

Yesterday I blogged about special stamps produced by Saudi Arabia for the haj season and showed the 2013 sheet. Today it is the 2012 miniature sheet comprising of two stamps with the same values of 2 Riyal each.

Saudi Arabia Miniature Sheet 2013

Apparently Saudi Arabia produced special stamps for the haj year. I have only discovered the 2013 and the 2012 series. This is the 2013 series

Sumatera Pitis

 

Over the years I have managed to gather a number of yellow pitis or coins of the region. These are actually real gold coins coming from the sultanates in Sumatera between the 17th and 19th centuries. Or even older. I probably have a few dozens by the now, I haven't counted them. I haven't even had time to look what sultanates these were. I am reserving that for my retirement I guess,

Thailand National Children's Day Stamps 2013

Thailand issued the following stamp sometime last year:

Issue 996: National Children’s Day 2013 Commemorative stamps, Issues

This issue commemorates National Children’s Day 2013 (12th January) in Thailand and it is a regular issue each year. This year the stamp features flags and national costumes of the 10 ASEAN member states to raise awareness of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)...

And the Brunei stamp showing the Brunei national costumes looked like this:

Brunei Used Stamps 1907

The older stamps are worth more when they are used. For instance, these Brunei stamps issued in 1907 with various postmark dates ranging from 1907 to 1911 are worth much more with the postmarks than if they are mint.

The 1 cent is worth M$50 (mint M$10), the 2 cent is worth M$20 (mint M$10), the 4 cent is worth M$45 (mint M$38), the 10 cent is worth M$30 (mint M$22), the 25 cent is worth M$220 (M$145) and the $1 stamp is worth M$400 (mint M$220).