Coat of Arms - from North Borneo to Sabah

Before Sabah (together with Sarawak and Singapore) joining Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963, Sabah was known as North Borneo. North Borneo (British North Borneo Company) had its first coat of arms in 1881. This coat of arms of North Borneo/Sabah has been evolving since. The evolution of coat of arms for North Borneo/Sabah is well demonstrated in the stamps of North Borneo and Sabah.

This North Borneo stamp was issued in 1897. The coat of arms has a lion above the ship. The small flag on the top of the coat of arms has an image of lion as well. This coat of arms was created in 1881.

This North Borneo stamp was issued in 1956. The coat of arms is still the same as the one created in 1881.

This North Borneo stamp was issued in 1957. There are some major changes on the coat of arms. The ship in this coat of arms is different from that of 1881. The Mt. Kinabalu has been introduced to this coat of arms (absent in the 1881 coat of arms). Furthermore, the slogan "Pergo Et Perago" (meaning "I undertake and I achieve" in Latin) has also been introduced to this coat of arms. The edge of the coat of arms now becomes more simple.

This North Borneo stamp was issued in 1961. The coat of arms is similar to that of the above stamp (1957).

This Sabah stamp was issued in 1965. North Borneo has become Sabah after 1963. The coat of arms of Sabah adopts the coat of arms of North Borneo, but with some modifications. First the lion has been removed from the coat of arms (including the lion image on the flag in the coat of arms). The lion image has been replaced by 5 V-strips. Now the two hands holding the flag are not covered by long sleeves. The slogan has been changed to "Sabah Maju Jaya".

This Sabah stamp was issued in 1971. The coat of arms of this stamp is similar to that of the 1965 stamp above.

This Sabah stamp was issued in 1979. The coat of arms of this stamp is similar to those of 1965 and 1971 stamps above.

This Sabah stamp was issued in 1986. Sabah totally revamped the coat of arms in 1982. A kingfisher image has been adopted in this new coat of arms, this is to correspond with the coat of arms of Sarawak (hornbill image). This coat of arms was only in use from 1982 to 1988.

This Sabah stamp was issued in 2005. This stamp has a new coat of arms (totally different from the one used in 1982-1988). This new coat of arms resembles that of the period before 1982, but with some modifications. The ship has been removed from the coat of arms, and the Mt. Kinabalu has different shape. Another small change is that the 5 V-strips (before 1982) has become 3 V-strips.