Sarawak #17 16¢ Mint - 1897 Mint Issue

As a reward for quelling a local revolt, British sailor James Brooke was awarded the title of Rajah of Sarawak by the Sultan of Brunei. Brooke, his nephew Charles Johnson Brooke, and grandnephew Charles Vyner Brooke, ruled this independent kingdom on the northern coast of Borneo under British protection until 1946. Every postage stamp issued by Sarawak during the reign of the White Rajahs pictured the Brookes, including this 16 cent value issued in 1897.