Brunei's Unissued Stamps

We had a couple of hours to ourselves after our official visits before flying off back to Brunei. As usual I dropped into my usual philatelic shop at Peninsula in Singapore. I always asked him what he had managed to acquire recently. He smiled and he showed me these 4 stamps!!!! (Produced but never issued.)

These 4 stamps were produced to commemorate Muara Port's Official Opening in 1970. On the stamps it is stated 'Pada Meresmikan Pembukaan Pelabohan Negeri Brunei'. I don't know what actually happened why the stamps were not issued. The Muara Port was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she officially visited Brunei then. But the stamps did not depict her opening the Port. Probably that is one reason why the stamps were not issued. I am only guessing. I really can't see anything wrong with the designs of the stamps for the stamps not to be issued.

There are 4 values, 12c, 20c, 25c and 75c. The 12c stamp shows the Kampong Ayer or probably try to depict some of the houses in Muara then. I don't recall there were that many houses on water then. The 20c stamp shows what Muara Town used to look like standing from the Port looking inland. The 25c showed the cut split where the tanjung was cut to allow in ships to pass through. Finally the 75c showed what the Port facilities look like from the air.

I asked him how he managed to acquire these 4 stamps. As usual, someone brought them in for him to buy. I asked him how much. He left the price to me. This was most difficult. I have never seen these stamps in real life. Forget the catalogues, it does not matter which catalogue you refer to, there is no price. I don't know how many pieces are out there, so I can judge the supply level. I don't even know anybody who had these stamps.

So I showed my hand. He looked at the hand and told me that he expected the stamps to be worth at least that much, he said he will make money but he said that the stamps may be worth much more. I thought about it and add three more fingers, I was going to show 2 1/2 fingers but I don't know how to do that in finger signs. He accepted the price. I was just happy and overjoyed to have acquire a set of stamps of which I don't know whether I will ever see again.

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