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Chicago Philatelic Society Medal

The Mystery Box book is the proud winner of a Silver Medal awarded by the Chicago Philatelic Society CHICAGOPEX Literature Exhibit

Read the Book Review by Barbara Kinne of the APS American Philatelist

Throughout much of the 19th century the waters of North Borneo were home to Malay and Dayak pirate fleets.

So dangerous were these predators to the commerce between Singapore and Hong Kong that the British set up sea patrols in the area. Guarding the mouth of Brunei Bay was an uninhabited island known as Labuan.

With the pirates a threat to his own trade, the sultan of Brunei ceded the 38 square mile island to the British for the purpose of setting up a patrolling station. In 1848, the island was made a British colony and then went through several changes in status under the Raj. The stamps of this little piece of British real estate reflect those changes.

When a post office was set up on the island about 1867, stamps of India and the Straits Settlements were overprinted with the island's name. In 1869, colorful stamps with Queen Victoria's portrait were issued.

This vignette of a youthful Queen Victoria on Scott 17 is bordered with Arabic and Chinese inscriptions. The Queen's portrait is a bit disingenuous since Victoria was sixty six years of age when this stamp was issued in 1885.

About 1890, however, British North Borneo took charge of Labuan and that colony's stamps, overprinted, were used. Their use continued until Labuan became a crown colony in 1902.

	The Sea Dayaks of North Borneo were fierce warriors and headhunters. Their war prahus lay in wait for unescorted merchant ships that ventured too close to the coast. A Dayak chieftain in full regalia adorns this 1896 stamp of North Borneo, bearing the Labuan overprint (Scott 72).
Crown colonies were those which deferred to the government in London for approval of any legislation enacted in the colony. Labuan enjoyed this status until 1906 when the island joined the Straits Settlements. In 1902, Labuan becomes a crown colony, a fact which is incorporated into the design of the stamp. Scott 102.

In 1906, the heyday of the buccaneers long gone, Labuan joined the Straits Settlements (comprising the commercial centers of Malacca, Singapore, and Penang)

Following World War II and the break-up of the Straits Settlements, Labuan, along with what had been British North Borneo, and Sarawak, became part of modern Malaysia.

The island's most famous inhabitant during the years of British control was Sir Hugh Low, (1824-1905), a civil servant and amateur naturalist who was among the first to classify species native to North Borneo.

After some thirty years on Labuan, Low went on to become of the governor of the Malay state of Perak, where he set up a model for enlightened civil administration that was widely emulated by other British residents. The term British Resident denoted a political agent of the crown charged with administrative duties.

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Throughout much of the 19th century the waters of North Borneo were home to Malay and Dayak pirate fleets.