Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

Inspired by the intriguing story of the White Rajahs of Sarawak

and buoyed by the purchase of a collection of the region’s stamps,

reader Bernard Lardner has created a fascinating philatelic display

Stamp showcase

60 APRIL 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Stamps of Sarawak

in association with the Association of British Philatelic Societies

Bernard Lardner

What attracted

you to this subject?

Over sixty years ago, when

I was seven and in bed with

measles, my father came home

with a package of 1,000 stamps,

hinges and an album all from Woolworth’s. He

showed me how to mount the stamps, identify

the country and therefore where to place it in

the album. I was immediately hooked on the

hobby as so many of the stamps had pictures

of strange animals, mountains, maps and many

more exciting images.

My immediate interest was to keep a

record of the actual number of stamps I had.

This slowly changed to an attraction to what

I thought was the more exotic countries like

Abyssinia and Azerbaijan. I even took myself off

with a school friend to knock on the doors of

the Embassies in London and was always given

a handful of opened envelopes with stamps

on. I decided in the end to only collect British

Commonwealth and started spending my pocket

money on trips to a stamp shop in Kingston-

upon-Thames where I’d spend a long time

picking out the penny stamps. I should, with

hindsight, have gone for single 2/6d stamps but

it would not have been so much fun.

When working in the City I occasionally

attended the City of London Philatelic

Auctions. One day a saw a complete collection

of all the mint and used stamps of Sarawak.

I decided to buy it as I knew the story of the

Brooke family, known as the White Rajahs,

who ruled over this land of headhunters and

found this exotic. When I got home my wife

said, ‘as you’ve got all the stamps what are you

going to do now’? Forty years later I’m still

collecting Sarawak!

Recently I have concentrated on the Revenue

stamps as it is a very neglected area although it

is interesting to note that collectors in Malaysia

are paying more attention to it and starting

to find fascinating new documents carrying

Revenue stamps.

The colour selected in 1880 was rose-carmine. A new stone was used for the printing, this

is known as it had a crack in it that can be seen clearly on seven stamps.

Right: it is possible receipt stamps were

used for mail during shortages of postage

stamps. This 1880 stamp carries the

cancel of that used on a British mailboat

and was never known in Sarawak.

Left: 1918 $2 cancelled in the Supreme

Court. Large blocks of high value

stamps can be found on documents.

Above: composite photographic essay

of the Rajah based on the Straits

Settlements design also made by De

La Rue. It is dated 17 July, 1899.

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