Lot 317 Labuan (C) 1894-1896 Pictorial Issue - A Selection of Bar Grid Cancels Used Postally Rather Than As A Remainder Cancel

Includes SG# 62, 65, 70, and 72, each with bar cancellations that have a much higher chance of being genuine postal cancellations than the more common remainder cancellations. Gibbons states that there is no way to distinguish the genuine postal cancels from the remainder cancels, but I have located a number of online blogs and studies that would indicate that this is nonsense. The remainder cancels were 14 bars, were often in a thick, greasy ink and were generally applied to 4 stamps on the sheet at once, as clerks charged with cancelling the remainders did so to entire sheets. So, generally only a small fraction of the cancel appears near one corner of the genuine remainders. These have almost half the cancel visible on the stamps in question, and based on the number of visible bars, they do not appear to be 14 bar cancels. So, I do think they are genuine postal cancels.  

Gibbons lists the basic stamps at 189 GBP. Based on this, the condition, and the possibility that one or more might actually be remainder cancels, we would estimate the value of the lot at $100.  The stamps offered here grade between 68-78 as follows:

Centering/Margins:  30/60, 40/60

Paper Freshness: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Impression: 5/5

Absence of Visible Paper Flaws: 5/5

Perforations: 10/10 

Cancel: 8/10