2006 600th Anniversary

2005 - 600th Anniversary of Malaysia - China Relationship

This is a FDC to commemorative the 600th anniversary of Malaysia-China relationship. What is unique about this cover is that it is endorsed by the Maritime Archaeology Museum of Melaka (see its official chop with UNESCO membership number at the front and back).

A museum would only endorsed/certified an item if:

1. The item is a collection of the museum and sold to the public

2. To certified that the item is genuine and not a replica

As the FDC is sold out to me as part of the Museum collection, thus, it is endorsed.

Maritime Archaeology Museum of Melaka (“MAM”) operates as a non-profit organisation and registered under United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (“UNESCO”) with the membership number 29766MY. The main purpose of this museum is to study and research on the history of trading relationship of Melaka with the rest of the world in 14^th to 17^th centuries. One of the most important elements in their study involved the mean of exchange used in the trading at that time, the tin money (or also refers to as the animal money).

The tin money is also featured in the miniature sheet above and the back of the cover. It has various animal shapes. The known ones are cockerel (chicken), fish, grasshopper, crocodile, goat, cow, tortoise and elephant. All these “money” which imitate the animal shape are evident of trading and diplomatic relationship with other culture/country. For instances, in ancient Egypt, the crocodile was both hunted and worshipped because of its extreme strength. Tortoise is symbol of longevity among the Chinese. Cow and Elephant are regards as the holy animal in India and Burma (or Thailand). Cockerel is also regards as “bringer of the dawn” and “guides for the afterlife” in the Quran, which hints the trading relationship with the Middle East. If you wish to know more about the 600^th years relationship of Melaka with China, or the rest of the world, please pay a visit to MAM and the COO of the museum would be happily telling you stories from the ancient time.

<-The people of Ancient Egypt worshiped Sobek, a crocodile-god associated with fertility, protection, and the power of the Pharaoh

Other Samples of Tin Money ->

Interesting Facts

One week before the original issue date (7th July 2005), it was pointed out to Pos Malaysia that the 50 sen stamp depicts an ancient ceramic plate with verses from the Koran. This 50 sen stamp was recalled and replaced with another one depicting a business meeting between a Malay and Chinese trader. This deferred the issue of this stamp to 21 July 2007. The subject ceramic plate may be seen from the scan of the Folder below.

The ceramic plate in the folder was originally featured in the designed. It was last minute changed. Even now, if you check the Pos Malaysia official website, www.pos.com.my, Pos Malaysia also did not list out the 50sen stamp in their product list.

The original design of the miniature sheet had also changed. The left hand side was the original design while the right hand side was the final product. The coins with the jawi word on it was removed and the China Trader clothing was also changed. I heard that the original design miniature sheets were printed and some may had leaked to the public. But so far I have not seen any.