The earliest Bruneian postage stamps were issued in 1895, seven years after Brunei became a British protectorate. These stamps, called “star and crescent” stamps by collectors, were of questionable validity, but are generally accepted as legitimate today. Regardless, collectors of Brunei stamps (or British colonial stamps) are drawn to them.
In 1906, stamps of Labuan Colony (a nearby part of what is now Malaysia) were used in Brunei, with a red overprint reading ‘BRUNEI’. Finally, in 1907, the Brunei Protectorate got its own stamps. Stamps under British control, which lasted until 1983, were usually inscribed with the simple name Brunei.
During World War II, Japan occupied Brunei from 1942 to 1944. The occupying Japanese used Brunei stamps with Japanese overprints during this time. It is usually not too hard to find some nice examples of these for sale.
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Following the end of World War II, Brunei stamps continued to be issued by Britian, and in the 1960s the designs and use of color improved in technology, and there were more frequent issues.
In 1983, Brunei won independence from Britain and began issuing its own stamps. In the years just before this, Arabic inscriptions (دولة) were added to the English name of the country on postage stamps. After independence, Brunei stamps use the English name — either “Brunei” or “Brunei Darussalam” — and the Arabic.
There have been many interesting postal collectibles from Brunei over the years in addition to the regular postage stamps. Check our for sale listings and subcategories for Brunei maximum cards, souvenir sheets, error stamps, joint issues, and other interesting philatelic items.
