Identifying the New Borneo 1945 BMA Set issues is very simple. There is only one listed color shade, the stamps are all overprinted BMA (British Military Administration), and all of the stamps have the same watermark. Japan invaded Malaysia in December, 1941, and used the supply of stamps with Japanese overprints during the war. After the war, new stamps with BMA overprints were issued in 1945. The stamps were in use until 1947 when they were replaced with a new overprint indicating that North Borneo had become a Crown Colony.

Unlike modern stamps which are issued in the millions, definitive sets from this time period were issued very conservatively. The Commonwealth Catalogue indicates that 20,000 of the $1 and $2 stamps, and 22,500 $5 stamps were issued.

The catalog numbers are from the 2008 Commonwealth King George VI Postage Stamp Catalogue (CW) published by Murray Payne, 2013 Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue (SG) and the 2011 Scott catalog (ST). You can access the publishers using the "Links to British Colonial Stamp Sites" at the bottom of this page.

The images were saved in a larger size and at a higher resolution so you can more easily see the details used in sorting them. Please be patient if it takes a few minutes for this page to load. Although the two high values were issued first, the stamps are shown in value order below.

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