Malaysia Singapore Joint Issued - Bird (Stamp Print)

This set of stamp print is produced by Singapore Post. It was only make available to standing order deposit account (SODA) members who accumulated purchased points as a rewards. The 2 stamp print came with a folder (Specially for you) and at the back of each print, there was description of the bird. 

Timor-Leste (East Timor) First Stamp Issued

A former Portuguese colony that was annexed by Indonesia in 1976; voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 and in May 2002 became an independent nation. East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines.

This was the first stamp issued for the new born country, the theme was to commemorate the Independence Day. The stamps design and printing were sponsored by Australia Post. The photo shown the Timor-Leste's flag is the presentation pack. This stamp were sold in Australia Post Philatelic Bureau during the issue. The stamps products and it's design were in high quality like all Australian stamps issued by Australia Post.

Airmail and Postal Labels Studies

I am into one of the considerably rare field of philately studies, that is study in airmail and it's related postal labels used in mailing services. I been collecting these postal labels for long, which includes airmail, express, insurance, priority or urgent, registered, surface mail or seamail and custom declaration labels. 

I have fairly rich collections, especially the airmail labels. Since this is another specialize field, I decided to create another blog just for this area of study and I welcome all collectors to view, comments, exchange ideas, labels and make it interactive to help others to grow this hobby.

An airmail etiquette, often shortened to just etiquette (label), is an adhesive label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail. It is commonly have a wording "Par Avion" in French or "By Air Mail" printed in blue color. 

For Express label, it is commonly printed in red color and for seamail label, it is hard to collect today, as most of the mail sent through seamail will not have a special design label (only some countries have printed this label). All these labels come with different sizes to cater for various sizes of the mailing article, i.e. from letter to parcel. The labels also come in different form in sheet and roll and are available in gummed and self adhesive for ease of use.

Although this tiny labels carry no monetary value like stamps but it is worth collecting and each have unique design, different languages and some with meaningful images and pictorial such as birds, aeroplane, fish and postal service logo.

The photo above shown 3 airmail labels from Africa countries. The top one is from Uganda, printed with the country's national airline logo. The rest of the 2 labels printed the logo of the East Africa Airline (EAA). It was used in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania mailing.  

If you would like to explore further, you are welcome to my "Airmail Labels Collection" blog at:

http://airmaillabels.blogspot.com/

Happy collecting!

Happy New Year 2009 - from Thailand Post

This is a specially designed 2009 New Year Greetings card sent by Thailand Post (inserted in the periodic issue of Thai Stamp Bulletin). The front of the card affixed with a beautiful past issued stamp and have a special cancellation (without date). This circular postmark have a pictorial of the Thai Postman's cartoon in the center and with wording "Happy New Year 2009". No city or country name. 

At the back of the greetings card (not shown), is a Thai version of the 2009 new stamps issue programme.

Malaysia SOCSO (Perkeso) stamps - Part 1 (1974)

This collection of SOCSO (Perkeso) stamps are not listed in the catalogue. The stamps are all in mint condition. It was used in government revenue on insurance documents and receipts. This stamps are not sell in public and mint copy is extremely rare.

This set contains of 12 stamps, exact date of issue was not known but it was issued in 1975, printed by London Print on PTM paper.

In my coming article, I will features the SOCSO 1974 issued with 5 stamps and 1971 issued with 18 stamps, printed by Dublin Print and the 1971, 10c reprint on thin PTM paper. All are same designed with different color and value. This will be the complete set of SOCSO and it is my favorite collections.

I don't know the value of this stamps now, if collectors have any idea, kindly inform me. Thanks.

I also wish the dealer can include this in the catalogue.

Australia Bugs and Butterflies

This is the 2003 Australia Stamp Collecting Month issued, the theme for that year is Bugs and Butterflies. This is one of my favorites insects stamps collection, the design is awesome and printed in high quality.

The above top 2 photos shown the peel and stick (self-adhesive) stamps in booklet format. The bottom photo shown the full size of the booklet and next to it is the Presentation Pack. This issued also accompany by a beautiful designed miniature sheet and a set of conventional gummed stamps.

For more details on each of the stamps profile and the designer, you can visit the Australia Post Philatelic Bureau website at:

http://www.auspost.com.au/philatelic/stamps/index.asp?link_id=2.723

The Penny Red - Part 1

This is part of my collection on philately historical envelope / document specialised on The Penny Red. The circular postmark on this envelope was dated 2 July 1869, from Edinburgh.

The top 2 photos shown the closed up of the postmark and Penny Red stamp (value 1 Penny). The last photo shown the full envelope.

As of to date, this envelope is 139 years old.

The Penny Red is a popular field of philately which are still enthusiastically collected and studied by people all over the world. 

To get to know more on the stamps and history, I extracted a summary article below:

The Penny Red is Great Britain's longest running stamp, from Feb 1841 to Dec 1879. It was used for the main letter rate and about 21 billion were issued. The colour of the Penny Black was changed from Black to red so that the black cancelation could be clearly seen. 

Until 1854 it had no perforations. In 1855 the watermark was changed from small crown to large crown. The first die was used to produce 204 plates, plus 6 reserve plates. A new die II was also introduced in 1855, this was used to produce 225 plates, plates 71-225 have the plate number engraved on the stamp. 

The paper also changed from blued, to cream to white between 1854 and 58. All these changes together with subtle variations between stamps make the Penny Red an interesting, and inexpensive, stamp to specialise in.

In 1864 the design was modified, there are now letters in all four corners and the plate number is engraved engraved on each stamp. It was printed using the line-engraved method by Perkins, Bacon & Petch (from 1852 Perkins, Bacon & Co). It was replaced by the surface-printed 1d provisional issue in 1880.

The era of the Penny Red came to its close at the end of 1879, along with Perkins Bacon's contract. It was superseded by the Penny Venetian Red printed by De La Rue, which was in use for a little over a year before being succeeded in turn by the long-lived Penny Lilac.

2009 Zodiac Series - Ox Stamp

Singapore post first issue for 2009 is the Lunar year of the Ox. Issue date is 9th Jan 2009. 

Philatelic products available are mint stamps, miniature sheet, presentation pack and first

day cover.

Stamps can be purchased through SingPost online services at:

https://shop.vpost.com.sg

Malaysia - Stamps Issued 2008

Jambatan-Jambatan Di Malaysia Bridges of Malaysia	28.02.08
Haiwan-Haiwan Nokturnal Nocturnal Animals	13.03.08
Rama-Rama di Malaysia  Butterflies of Malaysia	24.04.08
Ulangtahun ke-100 St John Ambulans Malaysia  100th Anniversary of St John Ambulance of Malaysia	22.05.08
Alat-Alat dan Bahan Kesenian - II Cultural Instruments and Artefacts II	10.06.08
Album Setem Tahunan 2007  Annual Stamp Album 2007	30.06.08
Jubli Emas Pemerintahan KDYMM Tuanku Sultan Kedah Golden Jubilee of the Reign of Tuanku Sultan Kedah	15.07.08
Kejohanan Perahu Naga Pasukan-Pasukan Antara Kelab Sedunia 2008 IDBF Club Crew World Championships 2008	01.08.08
Ulangtahun ke-100 Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia  Centenary Scouting In Malaysia	14.08.08
Khazanah Seni Rupa Negara Treasures of the Nation's Visual Arts	28.08.08
Tengkolok Diraja Royal Headgears	16.09.08
Bunga-Bungaan Unik  Unique Flowers	09.10.08
Program Angkasawan Negara National Angkasawan Programme	21.10.08
Cengkerang Laut  Sea Shells	11.11.08
Kartun Malaysia Siri I - Lat (Minggu Setem 2008) Malaysian Cartoons Series I – Lat (2008 Stamp Week)	01.12.08
Sekolah Premier Premier Schools	16.12.08

Premier Schools

Premier schools is the last issue for 2008.

Technical Details

Stamp Value :50sen (4 designs)
Sheet Content :20 Stamps
Paper :SPM Watermarked, Phosphor Coated 
Printing Process :Lithography
Printer :Percetakan Keselamatan Nasional Sdn Bhd
Stamp Designer :Hazel Design

Date of Issue 16-Dec-2008

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is 508 meters tall, with 101 floors above ground and 5 floors below. It is the largest architectural project in ROC history. Chinese consider eight a lucky number (eight is a near homonym for prosperity in Chinese), and so the main part of this skyscraper is made up of eight tiers of eight stories each, which give it the look of a stalk of bamboo growing ever taller. The rhythmic beauty of the building has put a new style of skyscraper on the international stage. In 2004 Taipei 101 was recognized as the tallest building in the world, with the highest occupied floor and the highest roof. To honor this great achievement in the history of architecture made by ROC citizens, Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of two stamps featuring the building. Mr. Hsu Tsung-chieh was commissioned to create the designs for the stamps, which will be released on February 23, 2006.

The designs of the stamps follow:

1. Birds Eye View (NT$5.00): The design of this stamp blends Taipei 101 into Taipei Basin, using a visual effect to make Taipei 101 look even taller.

2. New Taipei Skyline (NT$12.00): The completion of Taipei 101 has changed Taipei’s skyline. And at night it adds an air of skyscraper landmark to Taipei, which had previously been seen only in the skylines of foreign cities.

Day of issue: 2006-02-23
Courtesy: ChungHwa Post

Verify Authenticity of Stamps

In my previous post, I introduced what is WNS system, which is a tool created by UPU (Universal Postal Union) for the public to check details and verify the authenticity of each
stamp issued. The WNS system is basically a central database on the website which provides stamp issue specifications and the assigned WNS number on each stamp.

Below is the link for the WNS website. You can view all the participating stamp issuing authorities:

http://www.wnsstamps.ch/en/participating.html

WNS - tool to verify illegal stamps

About the WADP Numbering System (WNS)

Developed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP), the WADP Numbering System (WNS) was introduced on 1 January 2002 with the aim of creating a database of all authentic postage stamps issued by UPU member countries and territories on or after that date.

The goal is for the WNS to become the central point of reference against which stamp issues can be verified, supporting the legal philatelic market by endorsing those stamps that are genuine.
Only those postage stamps that, once received by the International Bureau (IB) of the UPU have undergone the process of verification of authenticity and registration will be attributed a WNS number and added to the WNS website.

The WNS website is therefore a reference tool and a control, by omission, of stamps that have been issued illegally and labels that are claimed to be stamps. The WNS is one of the tools the UPU has introduced, helping the Posts and the philatelic market as a whole to combat this problem.

Courtesy: UPU