myStampJourney

Apart from the shade varieties of the 2c (orange and orange yellow) and 6c (slate-grey and slate), another interesting variety of these two stamps is white forehead.  It is believed that the white forehead is due to plate wear, which is consistent to overall look on the stamps where all with such varieties are stamps from worn plates (speckled, cracking, and inconsistent inking) when compared to the normal ones.  CW32a, White forehead variety CW32, Normal 2c Used CW32a CW35, Normal 6c CW35b, White forehead Used CW35b Cropped and zoomed-in for comparison. The stamp on the right also shows some extent of ink fading out, a consequence of a worn plate. Notice that the right stamp has a wider white forehead. I wonder if does get any wider than that.  Take a quick look at your stamps, now! Hopefully this will spark more interest in collecting Malaya BMA stamps. Thank you for dropping by!

Early methods of defacing stamps of Straits Settlements largely comprised of obliterators such the famous octagonal obliterator (B109 - Malacca; B172 - Singapore; and B147 - Penang), duplex killer cancels, and dumb type obliterators.  This brief update is on circular bar cancels, which its recorded usage is seen in Singapore between 1872-1874 and 1879-1880.  Singapore, Proud K11 Singapore, Proud K17 To be frank, it is almost impossible to tell between K11 and K17 as both consists of 12 bars and are of equal dimensions. The only difference is usage period.  1868 2c Brown, ISC11, Watermark Crown CC with Proud K11 1868 6c Dull lilac, ISC13, Watermark Crown CC with Proud K11 1867 24c Blue-green, ISC16, Watermark Crown CC with Proud K11 In these three stamps, it is K11 since it corresponds to the period, which I think is only possible way to distinguish between these two. In what was recorded by Proud, K11 seemed slightly thicker than K17. However, this is also very subjective since the thi

The 1909-1922 series of North Borneo stamps featured intricate and beautifully engraved subjects. Interesting enough, the 18c stamp that featured a banteng (Tembadau in the local language) were withdrawn in the same month that it was issued for provisional use. Why, you ask? There were simply no postal requirements for it.  Left: 1909 (July), 18c, ISC#151 Right: 1909 (September), 18c surcharged with 20c, ISC#153 "It is believed that 50,000 18c stamps were printed and of these 5,000 had been sold, 5,000 were retained at Sandakan, and 40,000 were returned to London" [1]. The numbers here speak for scarcity of mint and postally used 18c stamps. Defaced 18c stamps are usually CTOs. And it is logical to expect that a large number of these values were CTOs instead of bearing circular date stamps, since there were no postal requirements for it.  Those that were returned to London were surcharged 20 CENTS by Waterlow & Sons, Ltd. Additionally, it was also believed that, theoretic