Today in Postal History

   

     
North Borneo to Germany
April 12, 1898

This registered letter was sent from Sandakan in the middle
of the northeast shore of the island of Borneo.
At the time, the area was known as North Borneo,
It is now Sabah, Malaysia.
Its destination was Ulm, Germany, about 70km west of Augsburg.*

There are four strikes of the Sandakan CDS and a boxed registry handstamp.
Its receipt in Ulm was marked by an Ulm railroad station CDS on the back.
There is another CDS on the back but it is illegible.

The franking consists of a complete set of the 1897 issue
- 1c, 2c, 3c, 5c, 6c, 8c, 12c, and 24c
(Scott 79, 80 82-88; SG 92, 94. 96, 100, 101, 102, 106, 108, and 109).
Not surprisingly, Gibbons allows for more color variations than does Scott.
Further, Gibbons identifies many added perforation varieties.
Neither characteristic is identifiable in this scan.

*The addressee, Paul Kiderlin, was very active starting in the 1890s acquiring
postal history items from obscure locations throughout the world.
Many of the items were blank postal stationery but,
as in this case, there are also philatelic souvenirs.
Thanks to Marius Wyttenburg and Lavar Taylor for their discussion of this aspect of this cover.