2002 Stamp Week

2002 Stamp Week

"2002 Stamp Week Private Cover - with First Day and Daily Stamp Week Cancellations"

For the 2002 stamp week, Pos Malaysia had celebrated it with a twist. Instead of holding the stamp week event at Kuala Lumpur (normally the GPO), they had held it in Penang. The whole idea was to let Penang people to have a chance to participate in such a great event without having to travel all the way to Kuala Lumpur. However, it became a really hard challeange for people staying in Johor to go there, as it will be a 8 hours drive. . . .

Anyway, it should have been a great event (although I had not gone there, I was a poor student study in Klang that time). I was told that the event was held in GPO Penang. If this information was not true, please kindly tell me. The event was held from 17 - 23 December 2002 (8 days).

A series of stamps featuring the Tame (yang Jinak) and the Wild (yang Liar) animals was issued. And continueing from the effort to ripe collector monies since 1999, Pos Malaysia had decided to issue the stamp in the following denomination: 2 x RM0.30, 6 x RM1. Yes, 6 RM1 stamp!! 2 on se-tenant pair (the birds) and 4 on 2 separate miniature sheet ("MS"). I believe the se-tenant pair RM1 birds stamps was plant to be issued on RM0.50 denomination when Pos Malaysia decided "Who cares about those collectors view, let them pay more!!".

"2002 The Tame and the Wild Original FDC"

Despite the fraustration I had on the location to held the stamp week the denomination of the stamps, this issue was really a magnificiant work of art. The design of the stamps, cover to the cancellation clearly illustrated that this was a top notch issue, which was highly seek after from collector over the work.

The so called "stamp week private cover" as shown on the top was actually a master piece I bought from a stamp trader from Penang. He had actually cut out the hamster and the stamp week logo from the original FDC (as above) and pasted them on the supersize blank cover, to create this one-and-only FDC which fits all the stamps, cancellations and 2 x miniature sheet.

"First Day Cancellation"

Interestingly, Pos Malaysia did not intruduce any individual "Stamp Week Cancellation". If you have been following my blog, a stamp week cancellation was a cancellation to show the duration and date of the stamp week, as well as the location of it (for instance, "17 - 23 Dec 2002, Penang"). Instead, this issue have the normal cancellation (as above) which illustrate a mouse and cat on 17 Dec 2002, and stamp week daily + stamp week combo cancellation from 17 Dec (2 cancellation of the same day!!) to 23 Dec 2008.

As you can see, the daily cancellation was design with and animal on the stamp and idicate whether they are either "tame" or "wild". I will showcase them one-by-one below:

"Gold Fish (Tame) and Bubble Fish (Wild)"

"17 Dec Cancellation - Gold Fish and Bubble Fish"

That's what I call syncronized stamp and cancellation. I am not sure the real name for the "bubble fish" but that's what I normally call it. In Malay, it is called Ikan Buntal. I know that it was poison and not edible. So if you caught one when fishing, please just let it back to the water before it inflated itself, like a baloon in the miniature sheet. The fish don't inflate itself for fun. It only do it to scare off enemy. I saw some fisherman selling some fully inflated, dried one as hanging ornament in the Kukup fishing village. I personally don't really fancy about hanging a death fish in your house, but it may be cool.

"Cockatoo (Tame)"

"18 Dec Cancellation - Cockatoo"

In my previous blog here, I mentioned that this bird was not origin from malaysia and does not exist in the wild. Looking back at this stamp, I think I am right as it categorised the bird as "Tame" (you can see the "Yang Jinak" on the cancellation). Can anybody studying zoologist or bird confirm this?

Looking at this stamp make me realised that Burung Kakak Tua (cockatoo) was a parrot, not a crow. When I was singing the children song "Burung Kakak Tua" in primary school, nobody explain to me how this bird look like, so I always think it was a crow as crow always go "Kak Gak Kag".

Anybody still remember the song "Burung Kaka Tua"? The lyric go like this:

Burung kakak tua
Hinggap di jendela
Nenek sudah tua
Giginya tinggal dua

Lechum Lechum Lechum Mu la la
Lechum Lechum Lechum Mu la la
Lechum Lechum Lechum Mu la la
Burung Kakak Tua

Those would like to do a sing-along with you kids could go and download the midi file here.

"Owl (Wild)"

"19 Dec Cancellation - Owl"

Owl, a bird of prey that hunt behind the shadow of the night. Did you know that this bird can fly without making a sound?

"Meow (Tame)"

"20 Dec - Cat"

Meow ...... Cats, how adorable. They will only pester you when they want food and they know how to clean themself. A perfect pets for everybody who hate dog.

This stamp and cancellation make a nice collection for thematic collector of "cats on stamps". Please click ---> here for a nice web page about cats on stamp and post-mark of cats.

"Wild Cat / Clouded Leopard (Wild)"

"21 Dec Cancellation - Wild Cat"

I am not sure if I should call this "Wild Cat" or "Clouded Leopard". But the Malay translation was "Kucing Batu" so I guess "Wild Cat" was the appropriate term here. But I am really not sure what's the different between both of them.

"Squirrel (Wild) and Rabbit (Tame)"

"21 Dec Cancellation - Rabbit (Tame)"

"23 Dec Cancellation - Squirrel (Wild)"

Rabbits are ground dwellers that live in environments ranging from desert to tropical forest and wetland. Their natural geographic range encompasses the middle latitudes of the Western Hemisphere. In the Eastern Hemisphere rabbits are found in Europe, portions of Central and Southern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Sumatra, and Japan. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has been introduced to many locations around the world, and all breeds of domestic rabbit originate from the European. So the rabbits we see in Malaysia were not origin from the land there.

Squirrel, wild. No body keep them as pet. They bite. And remember the old saying of Malay, "sepandai-pandai tupai melompat, akhirnya jatuh ke tanah juga" (which translate to english as "no matter how good a suirrel jump, it may fall to the ground one day"), which mean "no matter how good you are at something, you may fail one day too".

SPECIAL ISSUE (Pewter, Gold and Nobium FDC)

Royal Selangor also issued some special FDC to commemorate this issue.

"Pewter FDC - Cheetah (Wild) and Meow Cat (Tame)"

The wild big cat on this cover is obviously an African Cheetah. Why is it even doing on the cover? It was not even featured in the stamp and it was not even found in Malaysia wild? The Pewter FDC original price was RM33.

The little kitty on the cover just reminded me of the "puss-in-boots" from Skrek. See below:

"Meeeowwwww"

"24k Gold FDC - Cockatoo (Tame) and Eagle(Wild)"

Another bird of prey, the eagle was featured on this cover. The stamp was not actually full gold. It was gilded pewter coated in 24K gold. Original price: RM85.80.

"Nobium FDC - Cow (Tame) and Sumatran Rhinoceros (Wild)"

The cover original price was RM137.50. Sumatran Rhinoceros (as illustrated on the cover) are now critically endangered, with only six substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and one on peninsular Malaysia. Their numbers are difficult to determine because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their range, but they are estimated to number around 300. The decline in the number of Sumatran Rhinoceros is attributed primarily to poaching for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as US$30,000 per kilogram on the black market. The rhinos have also suffered from habitat loss as their forests have been cleared for lumber and conversion to agriculture.

So please, if you see this blog, please stop buying these product, or you will destroy this creature, a beautiful natural heritage for our children.