Brunei was a British Protectorate beginning in 1888. Stamps from Labaun and local issues were used until the Post Office opened in 1906. Initially overprinted Labaun stamps were sold, until the first stamps printed for Brunei were issued in 1907. The design of a native scene was used in varying forms for definitive issues until 1952 when it was replaced with an image of the Sultan. Identifying the Brunei issues is primarily a matter of determining the difference in the watermark, the difference between single and double plate printing dies, and the various color shades which resulted as the stamps were reprinted during the course of the set's production.

In 1922 the set was overprinted to publicize an Industrial Fair held in Singapore from March 31 to April 15 in Singapore. This was an early commemorative set that was not highly successful as a philatelic venture because they only sold 5,272 sets. There are a few things that make this set interesting today. One is the typeset constant flaws found on the letters I, E, and N in various positions. Unfortunately, I do not have any examples to show on this page. See the Stanley Gibbons catalogue for more details on the flaws. The other interesting factor is the fact that these stamps were overprinted in 1922 so later color versions would have been used, like the single plate printing for the 3d value. If you are looking for examples from this time period, they should be found in this set.

The catalog numbers are from the 1980 Commonwealth Five Reigns Catalogue (CW), 2013 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue (SG) and the 2011 Scott catalog (ST). The description and historical information are from the Commonwealth Catalogue. Please contact Bridger & Kay to obtain a copy of this publication. The descriptions and quantity sold are from the Commonwealth catalogue, but I have also included the Gibbons descriptions below them since when is disagreement about the color shades between the two catalogues.

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This article was written to help you identify your stamps.
Please feel free to ask a question, or include a correction.