Uniquely Malaysia

1994 Orchids - Hong Kong Stamp Exhibition

2009-01-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

1994 Orchids of Malaysia - Hong Kong Stamp Exhibition

Malaysia had issued stamp and covers to commemorate 3 major philately exhibition in 1994, 1 of which was held by Pos Malaysia. They were the Hong Kong'94, Aseanpex'94 (in Penang!!) and Philakorea'94. I would showcase the first stamp exhibition in that year, Hong Kong'94, in this blog.

"1994 Hong Kong Stamp Exhibition - MS on FDC"

Orchids of Malaysia miniature sheet was overprinted with the Hong Kong'94 logo to commemorate the event. No special exhibition cover was issued but the nice miniature sheet and FDC cover make up for the loss.

The exhibition was held from 18 - 21 February (4 days) by Hong Kong Philatelic Society and Hong Kong Postal services.

The Hong Kong Philatelic Society was established in 1921 and is the oldest philatelic organisation in Hong Kong. Members were mainly Europeans before the war and after 1946, more and more Chinese became members and the Society has grown in stature.

Over the years, the Society has promoted philately vigorously in Hong Kong and organised the first national stamp exhibition in 1994 (ie Hong Kong'94 as shown in the FDC above), the first international stamp exhibition in February 1997 and the 15th FIAP Asian International in February 2001. In addition, the Hong Kong Philatelic Society has also organised national exhibitions such as Hongpex'96, Hongpex'98, Hongpex'00, Hong Kong Stampex 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 so that new exhibits formed by local collectors can qualify for future FIAP & FIP exhibitions. The Christopher D'Almada trophy is to be awarded as the grand prize for the Hongpex exhibitions. In December 2002, our Society together with the Hong Kong Study Circle (UK) organised the 140th Anniversary of Hong Kong Stamps Exhibition at the City Hall. In addition, the HKPS also participated in joint stamp exhibitions such as in Guangzhou, Macau and the most recent Hong Kong-Macau Joint Stamp Expo in October 2005. In January 2004, the Society co-organised the Hong Kong 2004 Stamp Expo - 17th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition which was another success. HKPS looks forward to the next international show in 2009.

"Malaysia Orkid - First Day Cancellation"

The first day cancellation of this issue was very delicate and illustrate an orchids flower. You can see the magnify version of this flower on the FDC.

"Hong Kong'94 - Exhibition Cancellation"

The exhibition cancellation was more complexly designed. It illustrates the Malaysia Clock Tower (or better known as Sultan Abdul Samad building near Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur) along side with the Hong Kong Central Plaza ("中環廣場"). From my opinion, this cancellation give a false impression that both the buildings are of similar hight. But this is far from reality.

In term or hight, Sultan Abdul Samad building is 40m (peak of the clock tower) while the Hong Kong Central Plaza is 374m!!

"Sultan Abdul Samad Building - night view"

Topped by a shiny copper dome and a 40m high clock tower, it is a major landmark in the city. It serves as the backdrop for important events such as the National Day Parade on August 31 and the ushering in of the New Year. This heritage building used to be occupied by the then Apex Court of Malaysia, the Supreme Court which was subsequently renamed the Federal Court. The Court of Appeal was also housed in this historic building. The Federal Court and the Court of Appeals have since moved to the Palace of Justice located in Putrajaya, the new Federal administrative capital. The Sultan Abdul Samad Building now houses the Commercial Division of the High Court of Malaya.

Behind the building flows the Klang River and Gombak River's confluence and in the middle of where the 2 rivers meet stands The Masjid Jamek (or Jamek Mosque), a mosque of similar design by the same architect.

"Hong Kong Central Plaza (中環廣場)"

Central Plaza is the second tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong. With a height of 374 m (1,227 ft), Central Plaza is only surpassed by 2 IFC (415 m / 1,362 ft) in Central. The building is located at 18 Harbour Road, in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. It was the tallest building in Asia from 1992 to 1996, until the Shun Hing Square in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, was built. The 78-storey building was completed in August 1995. The building surpassed the Bank of China Tower as the tallest building in Hong Kong until the completion of 2IFC.

Central Plaza was also the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world, until it was surpassed by CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou. The building uses a triangular floor plan. On the top of the tower is a four-bar neon clock that indicates the time by displaying different colors in 15 minute intervals, blinking at the change of the quarter.

An anemometer is installed on the tip of the building's mast; the anemometer sits at 378 m (1,240 ft) above sea level. The mast has a height of 102 m (335 ft). It also houses the world's highest church--Hong Kong City Church.

For more information of all the skyscraper in Hong Kong, you can visit HERE.

We should put KL Tower (335 meter in hight) in this cancellation instead of Sultan Abdul Samad clock tower. However, KL Tower was only completely built in 1996....

Anyhow, I think both structure are magnificent, from both historical as well as architecture point of view.

2002 Malaysia - China Joint Issue

2009-01-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

2002 Malaysia-China Joint Issue - Rare Flowers

In the late 1990's, "joint-issue" became a relatively new and "hip" concept in philately through out Asia Countries. Singapore, Thailand and China started the trend to jointly issue stamp with other countries.

But lets get this clear first... what is a "joint issue". A joint issue is the release of stamps or postal stationery by two or more countries to commemorate the same topic, event or person of relevance to both countries. Joint issues typically have the same first day of issue and their design is often similar or identical, except for the identification of country and value.

Pos Malaysia, don't want to fall behind the trend, issued its first joint issue cover and stamps with China in 2002 - Rare Flowers.

"Joint Issue Cover and Stamps - design A"

"Joint Issue Cover and Stamp - design B"

Beside from the normal first day cover, Pos Malaysia had issued the unique "joint-issued FDC". The cover was uniquely designed and are larger than the standard size FDC in Malaysia. It was affixed with both version of the stamps (Malaysia version and China Version) on a single FDC and cancelled with respective cancellation.

As you may notice, both the joint issue stamps (RM1 in se-tenant pair) had the same design with China's 80c setenant pair. The "Golden Camelia" flower design is a flower found in southern Guangxi of China while "Guiana Cannonball Tree Flower" Malaysia native flower. I would suspect that each stamp was design by respective designer in each contry. However, as you can see, the color plant used for printing was not agreed upon and thus caused some differences in the color used.

"Malaysia First-Day Cancellation"

"China Joint Issue Cancellation A"

"China Joint Issue Cancellation B"

There is only 2 version of this joint issue covers that you can find in Malaysia (at least that's what I had found so far). Please see above for design A and B. The different was mainly the stamps attached and cancellation used.

Design A was purchased over-the-counter from Pos Malaysia. Quite a number of this was produced and you still can get these joint issue cover from some selected pos office. Although for this series, Malaysia had issue a 30c stamp and a miniature sheet, only the RM1 setenant pair stamps are affixed together with their China version. From my opinion, this was a more appropriate way of presentation as the RM1 pairs was the "joint issue stamp". All the stamps are nicely cancelled with cancellation from respective country. In some case, special joint-issue cancellation would be introduced for the cover. However, Malaysia had only use its normal first-day cancellation on this.

Design B was purchased from International Stamp and Coint Sdn. Bhd. It includes a 30c stamp (to complete the set of stamps) and a different joint-issue cancellation for the China side. I am not sure how this is done as normally Pos Malaysia would have control over the issue and cancellation of the stamps and thus you can't really change the design. However, for some reason, this stamp dealer had done it. And to be fair, the China's cancellation in design B was actually nicer.

Stamps in Twins?

Since the starting of this issue, I had given myself a new challenge to collect all the Malaysia FDC, its Joint-issue variation, other country joint issue partner joint-issue cover variation, and other joint issue partner FDCs. Believe me, this prove to be very challenging. The hardest part was mainly to get the joint-issue special cover, as the are normally issued in very low quantity. However, it could also be tricky seach and found the joint-issue partner FDCs. For this case, it took me almost 6 years to finally acquired the China FDCs for this issues. But I always think that this is the fun part of stamp collecting, and I like to call it "target and found".

The joy of finding an item to complete your collection is what keep me addicted to this hobby for so long.

"Rare Flower - Cover A: Front"

"Rare Flower - Cover A: Back"

"Rare Flower - Cover A cancellation"

Only at the time I acquired these 2 covers then I realised China's postal service operates in a very different way in term of new stamps / FDC issued.

First of all, there is no "official FDC" as sold by all post office. The FDCs cachet are design by each private and individual companies/corporation as authorised by the China postal services. The company would also design the "first day cancellation" as there is no "official cancellation".

Thus, for a stamp issue, you could have 20 different type of FDCs designed and sold by various parties.

"Rare Flower - Cover B: Front"

"Rare Flower - Cover B: Cancellation"

This is the second design for this issue. In China, they normally refer this design as cover B ("B封"). As you can see from the front of the cover, on the left hand side, it is indicated this as "B-FDC".

Most China stamps collectors would regard this 2 disign as the "official FDC" as the entity that issued these covers, China National Philatelic Corporation and Beijing Stamp Company had been in this business for many year and had the reputation of producing the best FDC.

"Cover A - China National Philatelic Corporation (A 封)"

"Cover B - Beijing Stamp Company (B 封)"

I think this is a great phenomena where entities are encourage to compete to disign the best FDC for its customers. However, for cover and cancellation enthutiasts like me, it would cost me a bom just to collect each FDC design from each issue...

If you have seen any variance of this FDC (China/Malaysia version), please let me know or even send me a scan/pic of it. I would very much like to catalouge all FDC for this issue, if possible.

1993 Bangkok Exhibition

2009-01-12T03:53:00.000-08:00

1993 Bangkok Exhibition

"1993 Bangkok Exhibition Overprint Stamp on Souvenir Cover"

Thailand, through my years of collecting covers, had pop out to be one of the few nation which did really well in promoting philately as hobbies among its people. This was well proved by the amount of international level philately exhibition that it had held. Thailand truly stand out among the crowd for being the country which hold tons of successful world exhibition, the most recent one being Bangkok'07 (please correct me if you think I am wrong).

Bangkok'93 was held from 1 to 10 October at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Pos Malaysia, as a postal service who participate in this event, issued a set overprint stamp and special cancellation for this event. However, no official souvenir covers issued. The cover you seen above was privately made by collectors.

The cover was designed by an elephant (wearing a vest with the letter "post"), the scared animal in the heart of Thailand people. No a really impressive design, especially it was mono-colored. However, due to minimal quantity being produced, this was still one of the rare collectors' fouvorite.

"1993 Bangkok World Philatelic Exhibition Cancellation"

The cover was affixed with the overprint stamp and cancelled with the exhibition cancellation. The cancellation was pretty classic but neat and nice.

The cover worth quite some money due to the quantity of the overprint stamp issued. It was still a highly sought after cover even until today.

2000 Millennium

2009-01-07T04:33:00.000-08:00

2000 Millennium Souvenir FDC

First thing first, Happy 2009 !!!

Yeap. Time passed like nobody business. It is year 2009 already. I have been writing this blog for 9 months. . . .

Tons of things happen in the previous year (2008). I got married, changed job, migrate, traveling, set up this blog, become an uncle as my sis-in-law give birth to a cute baby girl. . . . what a year I would say.

And sorry for not updating this blog for quite some time. I have gone for a long vacation in New Zealand. I had a really nice vacation bungy jumping, sky diving, horse riding, luging, zorbing, cruising, spa, shopping, rafting, sight seeing etc etc etc. There is just so much to do in New Zealand. Please put it in one of your "must go places before you die"!!

Quote: "Stamps let you see the world, but it is better to see it yourself".

"2000 Millennium Cover #1"

"2000 Millennium Cover #1 Cancellation"

Since we are all in the new year mode, let me showcase something which fits this theme, 2000 millennium souvenir cover. As a grand event of our generation, many postal services around the globe had issued FDC to commemorate this event. Pos Malaysia join in the fun and issued "several" series of stamps for this event. Apparently motivated by earning more money from the event, they choose quantity over quality. the 2000 millennium series, from my view, was not nicely designed and presented.

The souvenior cover as shown above was from a special folder issued for the event. The folder cost RM25 and consist of an album which highlight Malaysia development over the passed millennium and 2 souvenior covers. The above is cover #1. The selling point of this issued was that you have to buy this folder to get this exclusive cover, exclusive miniature sheet and exclusive cancellation. Now do you realised how exclusive it is?

"2000 Millennium Cover #2"

"2000 Millennium Cover #2 Cancellation"

The design of the souvenior cover actually fits the theme quite well. It give us the idea of where the new millenium would be an "astro" era, advancement, technology, hi-tech, unknown and should various element. Both miniature sheets are Rm5 and show an universe view of the earth, with a ship "sailing into the next millennium".

From the design point of view, this issue could be the best-designed issue for the whole millennnium celebration series. Due to the high price, the quantity issued was quite limited and should be highly sought after by various collector. But to my surprise, some of the post office still have this item in their "philately" section and you can still purchase them at original price (I am not joking). However, due to the poor handling of the Pos Malaysia staff, some of the cover had turn yellowish. My guess was that these covers was not prepared in an environment with low humidity.

A new year stamp to mark the new starting for everyone in the world. I hope all readers of my blog will be bless with good health and mind in 2009!!

1992 Asian Philatelic Exhibition

2008-12-15T04:23:00.000-08:00

KL'92 5th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition

"KL'92 Exhibition Cover with first day cancellation"

After multiple years in organising smaller philatelic exhibition, Pos Malaysia finally got a chance to organised an event at international level - the "5th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition". I find it a bit weird to call it "Asian International" because logically, you should be either Asian, or International.. and not both.

But anyhow, that is not the point. The point was that this exhibition was phenomenal!! Postal services all over the world had participated in this exhibition and tons of exhibits, booth and activities was sets up for the participants.

The event was held from 1 Sept to 7 Sept 1992. I am not sure about the location of the event. But my guess would be the Muzium Negara.

"KL'92 - Daily exhibition Cancellation"

Like all philatelic exhibition, the daily cancellation was introduced. Each of the cancellation represent different theme for the day. From top left were "Philatelist Day", "Youth Day", "Thematic Day", "Award Presentation Day", "Pos Malaysia Day" and "FIAP Day".

"First day cancellation"

The Stamp introduced was to commemorate 125th years since the first stamp in Malaysia. The stamps featured interesting design which now fits into a thematic category called "stamp on stamp". This basically mean there are a group of collector who like to collect stamps which have stamps printed on them. It was actually a very interesting theme.

"KL 92 - Exhibition cover with full set of new stamps"

If you are interested in "stamp on stamp", you might want to visit here.

"Official MS on FDC for 125th anniversary of first stamp issued in Malaysia"

This was the official FDC issued. As you can see, the post man uniform at that point of time does change a bit as compared to now.

"125th years of first stamp in Malaysia - FDC with stamps"

The first day cover itself actually fits in the category of thematic collection for "stamp under glass", which I had introduced in my previous blog.

As I have mention above, ton of postal services from over the world came to Kuala Lumpur to participate in this events. To commemorate this, most of the postal services have issued stamps, miniature sheet, exhibition cover as well as cancellation specially for the philatelic exhibition. For instances, Hong Kong have issued 2 miniature sheet with KL' 92 overprint. Tuvalu have also have their fish series overprint (see below).

"Tuvalu KL'92"

Just in case you wonder where is Tuvalu, it is a beautiful island in the middle of the pacific ocean. There have only a few series of stamps issued. Click here if you are interested in this country's stamps.

As there is so many booths around, people start going around and collect the KL'92 cancellation from all the participating postal services. Here are some of the cancellation I have manage to collect.

"KL'92 Singapore"

"KL'92 Indonesia - wayang kulit / hand puppet"

"KL' 92 Korea"

"KL'92 Nauru (another island in the pacific ocean)"

"KL'92 Hong Kong"

"KL'92 P.N.G"

Just in case you are wondering what is "P.N.G", it stands for Papua New Guinea. I try to figure out what is the picture as illustrated on the cancellation but just can't work it out. It seem like a coral or birds. If anybody know what is it, please do tell me.

"KL'92 Solomon Islands - Butterfly"

This cancellation would be nice for philatelic cum butterfly lover.

"KL'92 Tuvalu"

"KL'92 Tuvalu - FDC cancellation for the overprint stamp"

"KL '92 Viet Nam"

I apologized for not having a nicer version of the Viet Nam cancellation. This is the best I have got. If you have a sample of this cancellation which can provide to me, please do email me the image. I will really appreciate that.

After introducing all the cancellation above, do you know of any cancellation regarding KL'92 which you want to share? If so, please do email me. I would definitely like to make this blog as complete as ever. But I alone can't have all the information available and thus hope this blog could server like the "wikipedia" concept and pool as much information as possible regarding this exhibition.

"Australia Special KL'92 cover"

If you have participated in this event, you might have bought the cover as shown above. Sprintpak was a supplier who have participated in this exhibition to demonstrate a auto-affixed technology. It showcase a machine which auto affixed the stamps at pre-set location on a cover and machine cancelled it.

"Sprintpak - stamp perfectly affixed an cancelled"

See above for the result. The stamp and cancellation was at a exact perfect position. The technology could be used to mass produce FDC and souvenior covers for the postal services to be sold to collectors.

Making philatelic history with a number of world firsts, Sprintpak has carved a strategically important niche in the international philatelic and collectible packaging market. Today, a commitment to vigorous research and development and a growing reputation as one of the world`s best, Sprintpak is setting its sights on new business opportunities.

When it comes to business diversification, Sprintpak, a fully owned business of Australia Post, is ahead of the pack.

Specialising in providing high quality finishing processes in the production of postage stamps, philatelic products and other related products such as numismatic, collector albums and book publications, Sprintpak has gone from strength to strength since it began in the 1970s.

For those who have followed this unique businesses lifecycle it would have been difficult to predict the amazing outcome of this relatively obscure service provider.

Sprintpak was launched as a division of Mayne Nickless, an Australian transport and distribution company, firstly supplying stamp packs to Post and then later first day covers and the annual collection stamp album.

Recognising the strategic importance to Post`s philatelic division, Sprintpak was purchased in 1987 and incorporated as a division of the postal corporation in 1994. Sprintpak is now a business unit of Post Logistics.

This is why when you purchase Australia FDC, you seldom see flaw or damage on the stamps, cancellations or covers. The FDCs produced by Australia post are so perfect due to the Sprintpak technology being employed. As for Malaysia.... our postal services still very much believe in human power. If you ever visited the philately counter in Complex Dayabumi, you may even find a scene where the Pos Malaysia staffs are affixing stamp to FDCs and hand stamp them. This is why you will find not-straightly-affixed-stamp or dirtied-cancelled FDC when you have a SODA account in Pos Malaysia and have them send you every issue of new FDC.

In 1992, Australia Post was already using this technology. It was 2008 now... which mean Pos Malaysia Bureau Philately was about 16 years behind. Not too bad....

1991 FFC KL-Beijing

2008-12-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

1991 First Flight Cover - Kuala Lumpur to Beijing

"FFC KL-Beijing Front"

In 1991, a cover was issued to commemorate the first flight of Malaysia Airline ("MAS") first flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The flight was commenced on 31 March 1991.

As with most of the first flight cover, it illustrates the landmark structure in Beijing, the "Temple of Heaven". In Chinese we called it "天壇" or "天坛". This was a well-known tourism destination in Beijing and was included as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

But now, after the Beijing 2008 Olympic, perhaps the "Bird Nest" and "Water Cube" was more famous than Temple of Heaven.

"FFC KL-Beijing Back"

The back of the cover had an arrival cancellation from Beijing Post. The small print of the bottom of the cover contain information of the issuer and cover designer.

"FFC KL-Beijing Cancellation"

The first flight cancellation was very similar to the first flight cover from KL-Khoh Siong, which was issued in 1991 also (see my previous post regarding FFC to Khoh Siong).

"Temple of Heaven - front overview"

The Temple of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

The Temple of Heaven comprises of three building structure:

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) - the structure in the middle(as illustrated in the cover) is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇) is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base. It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall, that can transmit sounds over large distances. The Imperial Vault is connected to the Hall of Prayer by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, a 360 meter long raised walkway that slowly ascends from the Vault to the Hall of Prayer.

The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛) is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. It was built in 1530 by the Jiajing Emperor and rebuilt in 1740.

It was amazing how a structure from such ancient time illustrate the concept of ultimate beauty from the creator/god - "Symmetry". If you may have notice, the structure was symmetry (same in left and right if you look at it in the middle). The concept of symmetry was used by the creator in the creation of life. The form of human being, animal, snow flake to even individual cell, follows of golden rule of symmetry. A structure in perfect symmetry, now that's a beauty!!!

Visitor

2008-11-26T03:17:00.001-08:00

More Than 1,000 Visitor

When I started this blog on 15 March 2008, I have never imagine this blog could actually reach 1,000 visitors in just 8 months time.

As this was an historical moment in my blogging history, I would share a little statistic about this blog:

- there were 46 blogs being written (not including this one)
- average 5.75 blogs written per month
- approximate 1.4 blog written per week
- there was an approximate 22 visitors per blog
- covers tagged "Exhibition" was most frequently written (17 in total)

Thanks everyone who enjoy this blog. I will continue to bring you interesting covers and hope to earn a "wah!!" or "wau!!" from every one who visit here.

1996 Istanbul Exhibition

2008-11-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

1996 Istanbul Exhibition

"1996 Butterfly - Istanbul World Philatelic Exhibition Cover"

As promised in my previous blog, I present you the 1996 Butterfly Booklet on Istanbul World Philatelic Exhibition Cover. The exhibition was held from 27 September - 06 October 1996 which attracted 4,000 participants, including Pos Malaysia.

The International Philately Federation Congress was also held in conjunction of this World Philatelic Exhibition. The exhibitions opened at the Lutfi Kirdar International Convention Centre and the Harbiye Military Museum and Culture Village. About 700 philatelists from all over the world will exhibit their collections. The exhibition played an important role in promoting Turkey abroad.

"Exhibition Cancellation"

The cancellation resembled the logo of the Istanbul 1996. Is this Jawi character, Istanbul building structure or ... I am not sure.

1996 Butterflies

2008-11-22T05:03:00.000-08:00

1996 Butterflies Booklet on FDC

"Butterfly FDC - Design A"

Follow up with the beautiful proton booklet issue in 1995, Pos Malaysia introduced the butterfly booklet in 1996. However, despites high anticipation, no official FDC issued by Pos Malaysia. When I learned about this at that time, I asked myself: " How can this still happening after 43issue of booklet?!! (the previous issues without official FDC were Marine Paradise, Turtle, Proton)". Apparently Pos Malaysia was rather slow in meeting the public demand.

Stamp enthusiasts had designed some rather cretive private cover to commemorate this issue. Design A was my personnal fauvorite. The cover was nicely designed with a butterfly flying towards a HIBISCUS flower. See... Like I told you: Malaysian love their national flower!!!

"Design A - Description"

If you look carefully, the "flying motion line" behind the butterfly was actually made up of words which describe the technical details of this issue. The background of this cover was actually a painting of several butterfly around some lily flower.

The designer had also added some shadow effect to the main flying butterfly (please click design A picture to get a larger picture), which make it more lively and 3d. A true masterpiece indeed, especially with its printing effect. I would suspect that this was done by bubble-jet printer, which was considered a pretty "high-tech" printing in 1996.

"1996 Butterfly Cancellation"

A nicely designed cancellation with curve line to match the flying butterfly. FDC design A had match this theme perfectly by showing the same effect. As illustrated by the cancellation, the booklet was issued on 27 September 2008. I still find it pretty weird today that Pos Malaysia issued an official cancellation but not FDC. If anyone know why Pos Malaysia do it so, please enlighten me as well as fellow readers of this blog.

"Butterfly - Design B"

This was a second design from a Kuala Lumpur stamp dealer. I think his inspiration was from some Chinese paper cutting art. See below for a sample:

"Chinese paper cutting - Butterfly"

Chinese in China would normally hang paper cutting on window and wall during Chinese New Year as decorative. Paper cutting was a rather traditional art skill which still popular among youngsters. Chinese believe hanging paper cutting with auspicious symbol would bring good luck, health and even fortune to the family.

"Butterfly - Design C (Shah Alam)"

Design C was not bad actually (if you don't compare it with design A and B). Did anyone notice that all the FDCs (design A, B and C) had only 2 colours?

Design A: Black and Red
Design B: Blue and Dark Green
Design C: Light Green and Pink

But trust me, in the 1990's, 2 colours private FDC was considered to be really rare already. Just look at the Marine Paradise and Proton issue and you will notice the similarity. Anything more that 2 color should cost quite a bomb even just to produce it.

"Butterfly - Design D (Melaka)"

Lastly, the melake stamp dealer had design this version. It is actually longer than the normal FDC envelope and feature a full pane of butterfly booklet stamps. The empty booklet glued on the side make it rather presentable. An overall good design.

"Istanbul 1996 logo"

As you may notice, the booklet actually carried the Istanbul '96 World Philatelic Exhibition logo. This means that the booklet was also issued to commemorate this event. And yeah, I have also got the exhibition cover for Istanbul 1996. So stay tune to this blog and I will showcase it to you in the future.

1991 Phila Nippon

2008-11-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

1991 Tokyo, Japan World Stamp Exhibition

"Phila Nippon'91 souvenior cover"

This was a cover issued to commemorate 1991 Japan WORLD stamp exhibition in Tokyo from 16 to 24 November 1991. Nothing too fancy about this cover as Pos Malaysia (refer to as Postal Services Department of Malaysia at that time) decided to keep it simple. It had a hibiscus flower, the national flower of Malaysia, on the cover.

In the early day, Pos Malaysia seem to be obsess with this flower and we can see it quite often in most of the stamp design. However, its appearance have drop in the recent years.

Does anyone know that Hibiscus is also the national flower of South Korea?

However, their Hibiscus is of a different species from Malaysia.

"Hibiscus Syriacus - South Korea National Flower"

South Korea national flower is "Hibiscus Syriacus" while Malaysia national flower is "Hibiscus rosa-sinensis". The obvious different is the colour, one in bright red while another in purple (a bit pinkish). Hibiscus is also known as Rosemallow.

"Phila Nippon'91 Exhibition cancellation"

No special stamp (overprint etc) introduced for this event. Pos Malaysia used the boring national fruit series. However, Rambutan + Hibicus = truly Malaysia!!! What more can you ask for?

In a world exhibition, the participating country would normally bring their own cancellation. to commemorate the event The above was Postal Services Department of Malaysia cancellation for Nippon'91. Visitor to the event would normally have lot of fun collecting all the different cancellations from different country regarding the event.

I will show you some cover in the futher bearing various cancellation from different postal services participating in the stamp exhibition.

1965 Methodist Church

2008-11-08T04:05:00.000-08:00

1965 Methodist Church Cover

"Methodist Church Cover - front and back"

I always believe that every cover tell a story. The stamps, pictures, words or even content of a letter/cover could be a significant piece in the history of a nation. This cover, for instance, have recorded a history of Methodist Church movement to Singapore, Malaysia, Sarawak and even the whole of south east Asia.

The cover was sent from Singapore to USA. I have calculated the postage on the cover and discovered that is was $4.70 !!! That was a really high postage changes as $1 should be able to feed a family of 3 for a week at that time. This letter should be sent by air. It was sent on 29 December 1965 and arrived in Alabama, USA on 3 January 1966 (6 days).

"Malaysia - Singapore bridge?"

Many entities have printed their own envelope in the history for various purpose: for advertising, convey certain message (environmental msg etc), uplift corporate image etc. This cover was obviously printed to commemorate Methodist Church movement to south-east Asia. I could not figure out where is the picture on the front taken from. My guess was the Malaysia-Singapore bridge. However, I could be wrong.

"Methodist Church Slogan: One People"

On May 10, 1939, Bishops from the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South declared "the Methodists are ONE PEOPLE," thus becoming the Methodist Church. "One People" have become the slogan for methodist church missionary in the 1960's.

"Missionary to Sarawak and Indian"

"Chinese and Kenyah"

This cover was interestingly colorful and full of details. It just don't make economic sense to produce such cover unless you are mass producing it. Remember, this was the 1960's and there was still no laserjet colour printer at that time!! This lead me to believe that there should be quite a number of these cover available in the hand of collector. However, this is the only one I have seen so far.

As illustrate on the back of the cover, the Harries family was the missionary send to established Methodist Church and spread the word of god in Sarawak in the 1960's.

History: Methodist Church of Malaysia

The Methodist Church in Malaysia shares part of its heritage with the Methodist Church in Singapore as both the territories shared a similar political history.

The history of the Methodist Church in Malaysia began 120 years ago following a decision taken at the South India Conference held in Hyderabad in 1884, when William Oldham was appointed as a missionary to Singapore in 1885.

The Tamil work started with the coming of a Ceylon Tamil, Mr Underwood. In 1894 the Tamil work was started in Penang by the Pyketts, and in Kuala Lumpur by the Kensetts and was continued by Rev. S Abraham from Ceylon in 1899.

Methodism came to Sarawak in the year 1900 when a group of immigrants came from Foochow in mainland China. Missionaries came in 1903 in the persons of J.M Hoover and G.V Summers. Methodism grew rapidly in the town of Sibu and a solid foundation was laid.

The work among the indigenous people, the Ibans, began in 1937 with pioneers like Lucius D. Mamora and Paul H. Schmuker who took the Gospel to the longhouses.

The Methodist Church in Singapore and Malaysia became a self governing body in 1968. After the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the Methodist Church in Malaysia became autonomous in 1976.

PS: I found it strange to put the Kenyah boy in the cover instead of Ibans as Iban is the major tribe in Sarawak. However, I really like the Kenya boy coconut head hair style. :)

2002 Stamp Week

2008-10-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

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.

1970 Sarawak Exhibition - Update

2008-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Subsequent to my blog regarding the 1970 Sarawak Exhibition, George Wu, blogger from Gulfmann Stamp Collection have provided me with his certificate of membership for the Sarawak Philatelic Society. The Society postal address was:

PO Box no. 376, Sibu, Sarawak.

I have uploaded the Certificate of Membership to share with fellow collector:

However, we still have no information as if the society is still active or such. Anybody who have more information is more than welcome to share it here under "comments".

Once again, thank George Wu for the information.

1999 Golf World Cup of Golf

2008-10-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

1999 World Cup of Golf

"1999 Golf World Cup Commemorative Cover with Limited Edition MS"

The cover you see above may be the most expensive cover in the history of Malaysia modern philately. I last saw the miniature sheet sold at around USD$90 in ebay.

The stamp and cover was issued in 1999 to commemorate Golf World Cup held in Mines Resort & Golf Club from 19 - 21 November 1999. The commemorative cover will only be available if you bought the limit issue folder, which contain the cover with stamp and fdc and a special booklet outline the world cup. The folder was originally sold at RM25.

However, what make this cover valuable is the limited edition sheetlet with the design which outline 18 holes of the Mines Resort & Golf Club. Only 300 sheetlets were issued and sold in GPO Kuala Lumpur. Yes, 300!! No kidding. At that quantity, it had become one of the rarest stamp sought after by hardcore collector.

In this tornament, Tiger Wood won his first world cup individual title and team title with Mark O’Meara, bringing the world cup back to US since 1995.

"1999 Tiger Wood"

The United States won the 32-team World Cup on Sunday (21 Novermber 1999), with Woods producing the best score in the tournament’s history and taking individual honors by a record nine strokes.

His overpowering performance allowed the United States to erase Spain’s lead over the last nine holes, ensuring that the cup would return to the United States.

Woods shot a 6-under-par 65, more than offsetting a 77 by partner Mark O’Meara. He finished at 21-under 263 and O’Meara had 282 for a five-shot victory over Spain, 545 to 550.

“Tiger rose to the occasion,” O’Meara said. “He met the challenge.”

Woods won of $200,000 from the team prize plus the individual award of $100,000.

In 1999, the United States has won 22 of the 45 World Cups. But it had not won since Couples and Davis Love III swept four in a row from 1992 through 1995.

Backed by Woods’ course-record 63, the Americans took a seven-shot lead over Spain on Saturday (20 November 1999). But the Spaniards still had a chance.

Spain team's Miguel Angel Martin and Santiago Luna made the turn Sunday one shot ahead. The United States was hurt by O’Meara’s front nine of 4 over.

Then Woods birdied the first four holes on the back nine while Luna followed a double-bogey on the 10th with bogeys on the next two holes. The Americans led by five.

Woods’ 263 total beat the 265 set by Fred Couples in the 1994 World Cup, although Couples was 23 under on the par-72 Dorado Beach course in Puerto Rico.

This cover really marked a historical moment in Golf history, as well as Malaysia Philately history.

1991 Youth Exhibition

2008-10-01T06:24:00.001-07:00

1991 Youth Exhibition ("Pameran Filateli Remaja")

This was another exhibition held in Manara Maybank (if you are following my blog, the previous one was MALPEX'89). It was held in Balai Seni, Menara Maybank from 18 - 27 October 1991.(10 days). I don't really have the first day exhibition cover for this exhibition. The picture above (I am sorry as it was a bit blur) was taken from the Melaka Stamp Muzium. It showed the exhibition cancellation and the 1st day cancellation of the Youth Philately Exibition. 10 daily cancellation was introduced. But so far, I have only seen the "exhibition cancellation" and daily cancellation of 18 Oct and 20 Oct. If anyone have the whole collection of the cancellations, I would really apppreciate if you can share it with me.

"Exhibition Cancellation"

"18 October cancellation"

Above was the enlarged version of the first day and exhibition cancellation. I am sorry as this is the clearest it can get. If you need to see the clearer version of this, you should go to Melaka Stamp Museum. It is small yet pretty informative and the entrance fee is only RM1!!!. As for the signature on the cover, I guess it was from someone who formally open the event.

My beautiful wife - in front of Melaka Stamp Museum :)

I hope the pic above would encourage everyone to pay a visit there. hehe. Just google Melaka Stamp Museum and you should be able to get there pretty easy.

"1991 Youth Philately Exhibition - Italy Day"

Now the exhibition cover I owned is this "Italy Day" cover with a set of frama label. It was when I obtained this exhibition cover that I discovered that Malaysia actually have the postal stationary known as "Frama Label". It was issued in 1987 and the one-and-only Frama Label vending machine was located in GPO Kuala Lumpur.

"Malaysia Frama Label Machine"

The above is the vending machine which print the Frama Label (pic taken from "Gulfmann Stamps Collection" blog, provided by kkkhor). And, like most of the public facility in Malaysia, it was broken.

"Italy Philately Club Invi Card??" Can anyone translate this?

If you are wondering why would there be "Italy Day" or "Hari Itali" during a Malaysia stamp exhibition... so do me. I guess Italy Philately was a c0-organiser of the event or they have have some exhibition booth at this exhibition, which warrant a day dedicated to them.

"Italy Day Poscard"

I also collected a Italy poscard, with Youth Philately Exhibition'91 overprint, Malaysia Map as the background and Italy stamps imprinted on it. A marvelous collector item.

I have gone a bit long winded today showing off my wife, Frama Label vending machine etc as it have been some time since I last update my blog. Being quite lazy recently and try to take it slow to enjoy my new life here in Australia. Thanks for everyone who are sending me emails to request for stamp/postcard/fdc exchange. I really appreciate that. I will try to drop you a nice cover from Brisbane (disclamer: the above statement was a presumption clause and does not commited to any act to comply).

Till next time, happy collecting. Cheers.

2001 Stamp Week

2008-09-12T06:37:00.001-07:00

2001 Stamp Week

2001 Stamp Week featured yet another favorite theme of all time, marine life. The stamp, miniature sheet and cover were delightfully designed to include coral, sea horse, star fish, elephant shell and sea cow or "dugong". This stirred lot of interest in the collectors.

The event was held in Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur from 10 November - 17 November 2001. The event was grant with tonnes of people from every part of the nation participate in it. Pos Malaysia even name this stamp week as "Pesta Setem" or Stamp Fiesta. Indeed it was a fiesta filled with joy and excitement.

"2001 stamp week cancellation and pesta stamp lable"

Those who have participated in the stamp week would have a chance to get the 8 day-cancellation, a stamp week cancellation and an exclusive Biro Filateli Pesta Stamp lable (not postal legal).

"Weird print on cover"

If you look at the first day cover in details (please click the cover above to enlarge it), you can see an unusual print on the cover. An obvious link was noted on the design on the FDC. My guess was that Pos Malaysia originally intended to have the miniature sheet fit on the specific location on the cover to form a syncronised image (like the 1996 and 1998 stamp week cover). However, due to some reason (maybe the size of the MS won't fit), this design was not put into the final print.

Did you notice that the design on featured on the stamp (the coral, sea horse, shell and star fish) was also featured in the miniature sheet? It could hint that the original design was intended to be a sheetlet with all the stamps but the final print separate the MS with the other stamp. Another tactic by Pos Malaysia to sell more cover I guess.

"Imperformorated miniature sheet"

The unique print for this issue was thee imperf dugong miniature sheet.

The dugong (Dugong dugon) is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), was hunted to extinction in the 18th century. It is also the only sirenian in its range, which spans the waters of at least 37 countries throughout the Indo-Pacific, though the majority of dugongs live in the northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay. In addition, the dugong is the only strictly-marine herbivorous mammal.

Dugongs are pretty rare in Malaysia. However, some sighting are still recorded. Please see here for some report.

Note: Dugong is often mistaken as manatee. The main difference between manatees and dugongs are the tails. A manatee tail is paddle-shaped, while a Dugong tail is forked, similar in shape to a whale's.

Here is a dugong video from youtube:

2008 Nocturnal Animals

2008-08-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

2008 Nocturnal Animals

This is a private cover I have made for 2008 Nocturnal Animals issued on 13 March 2008. The original cover is too small and could not fit both the miniature sheet and the stamps. Thus, I have make a bigger cover using the design of the stamp folder to make it to fit everything. I have also include the side tab for the stamps in this FDC, which make it even more perfect.

Personally, I like this FDC very much. I hope you like it too. :)

1990 Selpex

2008-08-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

1990 Selangor Philatelic Exhibition (Selpex)

"Selpex Exhibition Cover"

Similar to the MALPEX exhibition cover in my other blog, this is another preprinted stamp exhibition cover for Selangor Philatelic Exhibition ("SELPEX"). It was held from 7 - 15 july 1990 in Shah Alam. This postal stationery envelope, which was sold for 30 sen, features an imprinted ‘stamp’ reproducing a rejected design for the Selangor 20c. stamp. The lettering and layout differs from the normal issue and shows the oil palm fruit in close-up. The sultan’s head and arms are much smaller. You can see below for the different between the Malpex print and this print.

"MALPEX'89 Kelapa Sawit Preprinted stamp"

"SELPEX'90 Kelapa Sawit Preprinted Stamp"

See the different between the SELPEX agricultural oil palm ("kelapa sawit") stamp with the original stamp? The different is very obvious. Aside from the pictorial differences, the font type and size used for the the word "Malaysia" and "20c" is also different from the normal print. The unique stamp as printed on the cover make this an essential collection for all hardcore agricultural state definitive series collectors.

"Selangor Darul Ehsan Arch"

The arch as featured on the cover and the cancellation is the infamous Selangor Darul Ehsan arch along Federal Highway which link from Kuala Lumpur to Petaling Jaya. As a commemoration of the cession of Kuala Lumpur to the federal government to form a Federal Territory by Selangor, the building of the arch was commissioned by the late Sultan of Selangor, Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah on 1 February 1974. This arch symbolises the sacrifice of the Selangor state to the federal government. This arch was officially opened in 1981. The arch's design incorporates influences from Moorish architecture. This can be seen in the domes on the arch.

1983 Hornbill

2008-08-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

1983 Hornbill

"1983 Hornbill private cachet"

This was a funny item which I have won bidding from the ebay. It was actually a private cachet for the hornbill issue. The cover was not of the original size from the normal. I would guess that it is something like 7" x 9". Apparently someone have mass produced this item as I have seen it in ebay more than once. From the printing work, I would also guess that someone have mass produced this item in the olden days.

The cover was well theame with picture featuring the hornbill. The drawing should be water colored and they really look nice. However, there was one odd thing which I can't really figure out until now: "Why does a hornbill go along with a parrot?"

Can any reader of this blog solve this puzzle. I have done some research and found out that the parrot is actually "Sulphur-crested Cockatoo"

The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is a large white parrot. It has a dark grey-black bill, a distinctive sulphur-yellow crest and a yellow wash on the underside of the wings. Sexes are similar, although the female can be separated at close range by its red-brown eye (darker brown in the male). This is a noisy and conspicuous cockatoo, both at rest and in flight. Young Sulphur-crested Cockatoos resemble the adults.

The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo's range extends throughout the northern and eastern Australia mainland, and Tasmania. A small population has become established around Perth, Western Australia. The species also occurs in New Guinea and the Aru Islands, and has been introduced into New Zealand and Indonesia.

See what I meant? This bird does not even origin from Malaysia (except in the Zoo or pet shop). Why would it go along with the Malaysia hornbill on this cover? Could this cover be made off-shore (not in Malaysia). My guess would be the Australia made this as I have seen quite a fair bit of parrot in Brisbane.

Anybody have the answer to this mistery is welcome to share.

1989 Malpex

2008-08-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

1989 Malaysia Philatelic Exhibition ("MALPEX")

Before starting today blog, I wish to say sorry to all the fan of this blog as there was no update for like one month long. The fact was that I had migrated to Australia. To get use to the environment here and start my life all anew really took some time. I have just got my internet hook up and thus can continue to write philately blog again. YEAH!!

I am also starting to collect Australia philately items. So perhaps the I would share some with you all in "Uniquely Australia" blog next time.. who knows.

" MALPEX'89 Exhibition Cover"

MALPEX was held in 1989 in Manara Maybank from 24 March to 2 April (10 days). I have no idea how large the event was but it was surely great for a 10 days event. The cover illustrate a Malaysia flag with Menara Maybank (at Jalan pudu) at the side.

The exhibition covers as above have preprinted 20 sen "stamp" on it feature the Oil Palm. The agricaltural series is the longest states definitives series in malaysia.

"Daily cancellation"

As with most of the stamp exhibition, daily cancellation was available. However, no exhibition cancellation noted. The cancellation featured the usual staff: hibiscus, map of malaysia, stamp, Pos Malaysia logo, Maybank logo, Visit Malaysia Year etc. Nothing too interesting except they have shapes like octagon and oval.

"Malpex - Youth Day"

Among the exhibition, I have recently discovered this to be an intereting cover. Well, this item actually fall under a thematic collection of "stamp under glass". It is basically featuring stamp, cancellation or cover with stamp under manifying glass. I have not heared about this theme until I visited the webside by Judy Hornady here.

Go there and have a look at that webside. I hope you can enjoy it as I am.

2008 100th Anniversary of St. John

2008-07-30T05:40:00.000-07:00

2008 100th Anniversary of St. John

It has always been a good thing that Pos Malaysia allowed the public to do their own first day cover and have it stamp at the counter. From my understanding, some postal service in country like Singapore and Australia would not let the philatelist do that anymore. All FDCs have to be pre-order. It will then be readily-made and be collected/sent to the buyer after they are issue. Thus, in Malaysia, with some creativity and delicate hand, you can make a one-and-only-special FDC.

Pos Malaysia stamps often have very nice design on the no-value tab. you will only get a tab if you buy full pane of stamp (normally in the amount of 20 stamp per pane). For this issue, I have bought a oversize blank cover and arrange the stamp side-by-side with its tab, creating a very nice visual effect.

But now looking at it, I should have make the red on top, yellow in the middle and green at the bottom. It will then look like a traffic light. hehehehe.

What do you think of my creation?

2000 Stamp Week

2008-07-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

2000 Stamp Week

"Stamp Week Cover 1 and 2"

"Stamp Week Cover 3"

"Stamp Week Cancellation"

Year 2000 was a crazy year where Pos Malaysia had issued so many stamps that make every philatelist SICK!!

Just have a look at the 2000 stamp week issues as above. It has 14v stamp and a miniature sheet. There are also 2 kind of covers available. This is more than any of the devinitive issues ever introduced by Pos Malaysia.

However, quality wise, this issue is still very pretty and induced high demand. The flowers stamps are very nicely design. The stamp week cancellation and the daily stamp week cancellations are also superb.

1991 Kaoh Siung First Flight Cover

2008-07-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

1991 Malaysian Airline - First Flight to Kaoh Siung, Taiwan

China has commenced its first commercial flight to Taiwan at 4 july 2008 after 6 decades. Have you every wonder when is Malaysia first flight to Taiwan? Well, according to the cover as above, the first flight to Kaah Siong, Taiwan by Malaysian Airline was as at 1 April 1991. Please note that it was coincidently at April Fool Day!!

"Special First Flight Cancellation"

"Received cancellation from Taiwan"

As usual, the first flight cover ("FFC") has got the first flight pictorial cancellation from MAS and also the return cancellation from taiwan at the back.

How often did you look at a stamp/cover and have the feeling "ah!! I have been there!!". Well, this FFC showing the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas reminded me of the sweet memories we (me and my girlfriend - who is now my wife) had when we pay a visit to Taiwan.

No joke!! I have really been there. See the picture below:

Me and the girl of my life having a picture in front of the pagodas. We are so in love back then (and still is now) and everything around us just become sooo... magically beautiful. The pagodas is situated in the Lotus Lake. The dragon's throat is the entrance and the tiger's mouth is the exit. Entering a dragon's throat and coming out a tiger's mouth symboilizes turning bad luck to good fortune. Inside, paintings depict China's 24 most obedient sons as well as scenes of heaven and hell to inspire people to do good deeds during their lifetime, and to provide threatening examples of retribution for wrongdoing

We came out from the tiger mouth!!

About 700 meters to the north of the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas are Spring and Autumn Pavilions (which can be seen at the pic above). These two pavilions are dedicated to Kuan Kung, the God of War, the Spring and Autumn Pavilions were completed in 1951. In front of the pavilions is a statue of Kuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, riding a dragon. According to legend, Kuanyin appeared above the clouds riding on a dragon, signifying that believers must erect an image depicting this event between "pavilions of summer and autumn": The present-day structures are a result of this vision.

Wau, this is the first time in my blogging history where I have showed my real face. Hope you don't find me exceptionally handsome and fall in love with me, or another way round.

Till next time, hope you are happily in love, blessed with good health and good fortune!!

1986 YMCA Exhibition

2008-07-10T03:07:00.000-07:00

1986 YMCA Stamp Club Stamp Exhibition

Another 3 very interesting exhibition covers. These 3 covers were issued to commemorate the YMCA Stamp Club Exhibition in Penang from 5th to 7th December 1986. The event was held in YMCA Hall in Macalister Road, Penang (the current full address is 211, Jalan Macalister, 10450 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia).

All 3 exhibition covers are affixed with the state definitive flower series stamp and cancelled with the daily exhibition pictorial cancellation. Each day have a different theme:

5 Dec - Stamp Club Day: To promote YMCA Stamp Club and attract more member

6 Dec - Stamp Collecting Day: To promote stamp collecting hobby.

7 Dec - Pesta Pulau Pinang Day: To promote Penang tourism. Pesta Penang is often held in December month where fun park is set up for public to enjoy the fun.

"Original YMCA Emblem"

YMCA actually stand for "Young Men's Christian Association". The above is their original emblem. First, there is a double circle. One circle is for the completeness and unity of life relating to the universe and to all the laws of nature. The second circle has the symbolism of a wedding ring-friend, love without end among individuals. Within these two circles the rest of the emblem is placed. They are the Greek letters Chi Rho. These are the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ and are themselves the emblem of early Christianity.

There is the double triangle:The large triangle stand for the trinity within the Godhead; that of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and represents the complete cooperation and unity between them in trying to show the world the true way of life.The second triangle stands for the trinity within men – that of the spirit, mind and body. Here there is where part of our work fits in, that of developing the life of youth into the fullness of growth. And then in the centre is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, open to Christ’s intercessory prayer; the Gospel of John, the 17th Chapter and the 21st verse which reads:

“THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE; AS THOU, FATHER, ART IN ME, AND I IN THEE, THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE ONE IN US; THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME.”

YMCA is originally open to cristian only. However, it is now also open to non-christian. Thus, the emblem has also changed to the below:

The RED TRIANGLE with the three equal sides is the well-known YMCA symbol. It represents the equal development of the person SPIRITUALLY, MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY.

In 1986, YMCA Stamp Club prove to be a active club by holding such a meaningful stamp exhibition. However, the club has now ceased to exist. The only club which still exist currently in YMCA penang are Amasteur Radia Club, Ballroom Dance Club and Toastmasters Club.

YMCA always put in effort in ascertain the well-being of the society. They are a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating and promoting the spiritual, mental, physical and social development of individuals thereby making them responsible citizens of our country. YMCA seek to transcend all divisions and barriers of class, race, sex, nationality and political opinion through our various programs i.e. recreational and social programs, youth programs to direct the youth towards healthy recreational activities.

Lastly, I conclude this blog by dedicating this song to all of you:

"Village People - YMCA (Original Music Video)"

1985 Perak Philatelic and Numismatic Exhibition

2008-06-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

1985 Perak Philatelic and Numismatic Exhibition

This is another exciting cover for a Philatelic and Numismatic Exhibition held in Ipoh, Perak in 1985. The exhibition is held in Tun Razak Library, a very well known landmark in Ipoh town. See below for a picture of the magnificant structure.

"Perpustakaan Tun Razak, Jalan Kelab, 30000 Ipoh"

The word "numimastic" may sound very foreign for a lot of people. But is actually mean "coins" in Greek. Numimastic is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes a much larger study of payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Lacking a structured monetary system, people in the past as well as some today lived in a barter society and used locally found items of inherent or implied value. Early money used by primitive people is referred to as "Odd and Curious", but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g., prison cigarettes). The Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit and gave small change in lambskins. The lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horse is not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as conch shells, precious metals and gems.

Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized or credit value. Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law. This is also known as the "collector's value" or "intrinsic value."

Stamps and Its "Value"

Stamp, in many ways, mimics the numimastic development process. It is a product perceived to have its "value", due to a guaranteed postal services to be provided by the Post Office. But in modern time, do stamp still have a "value" in prepaying for postal services?

For business level, most of our corporate/comercial letter does not use stamp anymore. They have used machine cancellation in replace of the process of pasting stamp on each letters they are to send. For individual level, letter writing are replaced by SMS and email. The used of stamp in letter posting had significantly less as compared to 10 years ago (where handphone and internet are still at their baby stage). With lesser stamp being used in daily life, kids from the 80's can not associate them as "hobby". Face it!! kids nowadays don't brag about having more stamps. They brag about having PSP or tons of kills they got from a DOTA game.

Is philatelic a dying hobby? Perhaps. . . But it is still my greatest fun at the current moment.

PS: if you don't know what is a "PSP" and "DOTA", you are either pretty old, or getting too off-track with the Y-generation.

1985 MKSAK Basketball Championship V

2008-06-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

1985 MKSAK Basketball Championship in Bukit Titiwangsa Genting

"Souvenir Cover - Front"

"MKSAK Basketball Championship Emblem"

This sovenir cover is special in the sense that it was issued to commemorate a non-philatelic event. This did not happen quite often in the Malaysia philatelic history and certainly a first time for a basketball championship.

In case you are asking, "MKSAK" stands for Majlis Kebudayaan dan Sukan Anggota Kerajaan, or Malaysia Cultural and Sports Organisation for Government Servants. This organisation later changed its name to MAKSAK "Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota Kerajaan", Malaysia Welfare and Sports Organisation for Government Servants.

The cover is nicely designed using shadowline art to illustrate two players fighting for a rebound. With just a few strokes, it clearly illustrates the tense and energy involved between the players, which is an excellent presentation.

"Souvenior Cover Back"

The cover was affixed with 15 1c national flower series stamps from all states, which signified the participation from all states. The stamps on the front of the cover were cancelled with Genting Highland "k" postmarks. The stamps on the back of the cover were cancelled with Genting Highland "m" postmarks.

I am very impressed with the "m" postmarks at the back of the cover. The postmark is very big and cancelled SIX stamps at one chop. Another special feature for this cancellation is that is actually showed the time of cancellation, 4.30pm, which is quite unusual and hard-to-come-about.

Sports is really important for all. I believe that even philately enthutiast should stay active to be healthy. Come on !!! Get some slam dunk action happening and don't lazzz in front of the computer reading blog !!! (except for reading some interesting blog like this one) .... Cheers.

1999 Stamp Week

2008-06-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

1999 Stamp Week

"1999 Stamp Week Cancellation"

Pos Malaysia had issued a very nice stamp and FDC, "Heliconia and its botanical relatives", for the 1999 Stamp Week. 10 stamps with the 30c value has been issued with different flower design. This issue help me to realise that there are so many kind of plant from the Heliconia family.

1999 Stamp week is held from 29 November to 5 December 1999 at the Dayabumi Complex, Pos Malaysia headquarter. 7 daily pictorial cancellations and 1 stamp week cancellations are introduced. The daily cancellations show different outlook of heliconia plant from various family group.

"Special stamp week cover"

The highlight for this stamp week was a special stamp week cover as shown above. The cover was printed with a extended art of the Heliconia sheetlet. You are to pasted the 10v stamp on the cover (at designated position in the middle) and it would look like an "enlarged art version" for the sheetlet.

Bright colours are used for this set of stamp and cover and thus make it look a bit chaotic. However, it is still a very nice cover for all specialised collectors. I would suggest to have this cover framed and hang on the wall as decoration (this could look really nice and eye catching!!).

However, please keep this special cover AWAY from direct sunlight. The ink used for this printing are not as good as you think and the colour of the cover may fade if expose under constant sunlight.

1996 International Aviation Exposition

2008-06-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

1996 International Aviation Exposition: Malaysia-Chiana Joint-Issue Cover

"Cover Front"

"Cover Back"

This is a cover jointly issued by China and Malaysia to commemorate the first International Aviation Expo being held in China in 1996. This joint issue cover is the the first-of-its-kind for Malaysia jointly issue philately items.

What is unique about this issue is that it is a "jointly issued cover" and not "jointly issued stamp". However, the description on the back is a little confusing:

"In order to congratulate '96 China International Aviation Exposition Held in China for the First time, we issued this commemorative stamp jointly"

The mandarin description however said that it is a jointly issued cover and not stamp. The mandarin description is correct. Only a joint issue cover issued and not the stamp.

The Expo, also known as Airshow China, is the only international aerospace exhibition in China that is approved by the Chinese Central Government, features real-size object display, trade disscussions, technical exchanges and flying display. Since the advent of Airshow China in 1996, it has been successfully held for 7 times and growing rapidly into one of the most influential international airshows in the Asian-Pacific Region and an ideal gateway to the vast Chinese market for aerospace companies from around the world.

The picture above shows the Malaysia cancellation of the '96 China International Aviation Exposition by POS Malaysia. The cancellation shows the building structure where the Expo is held, in Zhuhai, one of China's five special economic zones. The China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition is a biennial event.

As you may notice, the stamp affixed was not a Malaysia stamp. Instead, it is a United Nation stamp with denomination of 32c. I have got this cover from a China stamp collector. According to her, this could be due to the Pos Malaysia have not bring sufficient stamp and thus a United Nation stamp is used. As Malaysia is a member of UN, this should be legal... I think.

1985 Penpex

2008-05-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

1985 Penang Philatelic Exhibition

In 1985, there were 3 major stamp exhibition in Malaysia: Aseanpex in March, Penpex in July and Perak Philatelic and Numismatic Exhibition in December. What a year....

The picture above shows Penang Philatelic Exhibition ("Penpex") exhibition cover. The exhibition was organised by Penang Philatelic Society from 27 July - 4 Auguest 1985. From the cover, I would guess that the exhibition was held in Komtar, Penang. I would appreciate if anyone could confirm this.

Penang Philatelic Society has been very active and participated in most major exhibition like the 1994 Aseanpex and other local exhibition. If you look at their society's logo in the cover, it show a "diamond- shape chop with 147". This is the chop used in Penang in strait settlement time, where "147" represent the Penang local postal services.

The cover also have two very special and seldom seen cancellation: "POSTED AT PANPEX '85" and "SEE YOU AT BICENTENARY STAMP EXHIBITION 1986". I have not collected any 1986 bicentenary stamp exhibition cover and interested in buying one if anybody is letting go.

"Aseanpex exhibition cover posted at penpex"

"Penpex Slogan"

I also have this cover in my collection which shows a Penpex Slogan. Interestingly, it is actually a Aseanpex cover.

1995 Proton

2008-05-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

1995 Proton Booklet on FDC

As I mention in my previous post, 1995 marked a crazy year for Pos Malaysia as they have issued 3 booklets with special pictorial cancellation but without any official first day covers. After the 1st two issue (Marine Life and Turtle), Malaysia philatelists started to realised the problem and thus got ready for the 3rd booklet issue for the year - Proton by creating their own private cachet. This issue got a lot of attention as the booklet stamps have 10 design and used real photograph (rather than drawing) as the stamp design.

Many version of the cachets are noted as quite a lot of stamp dealer have design their own cover for mass selling to the public. So far, I have collected 4 kind of covers, which are shown as below:

"Kuala Lumpur Type A - Front"

"Kuala Lumpur Type A - Back"

In my opinion, this is the nicest version. The front cover illustrates the Proton Satria and the details of the issues is printed at the back. The designer of this cover showed much details in his design. Although not sure about the quantity issued for this cover, it is still quite common and you still could obtain it from certain dealers.

"Kuala Lumpur Type B"

Type B design was a bit "rough". The printing seem to be using a ribbon type printer. However, nevertheless, it still illustrate a nice proton saga at the front of the cover.

"Ipoh Type C"

This cachet was created by a Ipoh stamp dealer (I believe you would have guess who). According to the dealer, only around 2,000 pieces of this were printed and made into FDC.

"Melaka Type C"

This is the Melaka version created by Mr. Tan, a stamp dealer from Melaka. As you can see, it is a simple version on blank envelope and design using the booklet skin. Mr Tan still have quite a number of stocks for this issue. If you wish to buy this version, you could try to search out Mr Tan ebay listing with the ebay id "winston6099".

1984 Penang-China Exhibition

2008-05-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

1984 Penang-China Exhibition

"Penang China Stamp Exhibition - Front"

"Penang China Stamp Exhibition - Back"

This is an interesting aerogramme featuring the Penang-China Stamp Exhibition. The exhibition was held from 26 May 1984 to 10 June 1984. This was a joint stamp exhibition organised by Pos Malaysia and China Postal Services. This was a small exhibition and I have not much information about it. If anybody have any info about this exhibition, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment regarding the event.

The aerogramme was affixed with a China year of rats stamp and was cancelled with a special pictorial cancellation. You will normally get foreign stamp affixed on an exhibition cover if:

1. the country have send representative to participate in your exhibition

2. special stamp/cancellation is issued for the events

Of all my collection, this is the earliest "joint exhibition" cover (with other countries) which I discovered so far. Although in the later date, Malaysia would organised more major stamp exhibition with lots of participation from other countries, this may be the first cover to ever evidence that.

China had issued a very nice cancellation to commemorate this event. Please note that the word "Pameran" (exhibition) is wrongly spelled as "Pamiran". However, according to my dad, bahasa baku is not strongly implemented at that time and this is a correct spelling.

The cancellation olso featured the hibiscus flower, which is the national flower of Malaysia.

1984 was the year of rat and thus the stamp is used. This was also the year my younger sister was born. How I wish it was the year of monkey and the China year of monkey stamp was affixed. If so, this cover would worth a fortune.

"Burial Pole (Kelirieng)"

At the back of the aerogrammes, there is this picture regarding the Burial Pole (or also known as "Keliring"). This is erected for a Punan aristocrats.

Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia. They are distinct, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found in Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have been living time immemorial. They do have other names - Mikuang Bungulan or Mikuang and Aveang Buan. But these terms are only used ritually these days.

Punan is a stratified society of 'laja' (aristocrats), 'panyen' (commoners), and 'lipen' (slaves). This is a fact determine their historical traditions that have been preserved. Just like most of the history of European Middle Ages is linked to and mainly concerned the various ruling monarchs, so are the historical and mythical traditions of Punan closely connected to their rulings aristocrats.

The Punan have a unique burial custom. In the early days they did not bury their aristocrats or lajar. Instead they built a pole known as kelirieng of 50-meter height to lay down their beloved leaders. In Sarawak it is estimated that there are fewer than 30 kelirieng left standing. The Punan still practice secondary burial ceremony, whereby the dead body is kept at their longhouse for at least 3–7 days. This is partly to give more time for far away relatives to give their last respect to the deceased.

There are so much tribe or ethnic group in Sabah and Sarawak which we may have little knowledge about. I hope I could visit one of this pole one day.

1970 Malaysia Exhibition - Error Cover

2008-05-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

1970 Malaysian Exhibition - Error Cover

I have recently bought this interesting cover. It shows an error which commanly seen in color photo printing - color shift. A clearer picture of the color shift for the "stamp" as printed on the cover could be seen below:

As illustrated in my previous post, this cover was to commemorate the 1st Malaysian Stamp Exhibition. It was printed by Philatelic Society of Malaysia ("PSM"). I guess the printer engaged by PSM has not check the product properly and thus this cover was obtained by the public.

The printing process for this cover is very much similar to the printing of the stamp, where a technique call "offset lithography" is used.

For stamp printing, full sheets of paper are transferred through the printing press by means of grippers, which ensure that the positioning of the colours is exactly right. The colours are printed consecutively, usually the darkest first and the lightest last, although this order may change if the design demands it. The color normally use includes the three primary color (red, blue and yellow) and black. Sometime while or special color (such as gold or silver) may be used. The overlaping of the primary color could create all type of other colors, for instance blue and red become purple, red and yellow become orange etc. As you can see on the picture above, the overlaping of "red" in the cover above has not been accurate, thus created this "error".

Because the modern offset press works at very high speed, the inks have to dray almost instantly if smudges are to be avoided. Several different drying methods are used. The conventional one is to spray a fine powder on to the printed sheet, which not only speeds the drying process but forms a barrier between the sheets when they are stacked. In addition, catalysts may be added to the inks. In UV printing, an interesting new technique, the inks contain additives which react to UV lights in the press, drying them almost instantly.

Obviously the density of the inks and the strength of the colours have to be very carefully controlled. Also, if the colours are going to print exactly in line with one another, the paper has to be positioned under the cylinders within pinpoint accuracy. Final adjustments are made at a computer console which controls every operation of the offset machine. The skilled operator will regularly pull a sheet from the press and examine it closely, noting any defects, any changes in colour balance or density or any necessary adjustments to the registration.

"Pic showing the printing/engraving process of stamps"

Lithography works on the principle that water and oil repel one another. The offset machine has three main cylinders. The first carries the zinc plate with the image to be printed. The second is a rubber blanket which transfers the image and the third (the impression cylinder) carries the paper. Oil-based ink is transferred from ink ducts via a series of inking rollers to the printing plate. It adheres only to the areas which are to be printed because the rest of the plate is kept damp. As the rollers rotate, the ink is transferred to the rubber blanket which, in turn, transfers it to the paper travelling over the impression cylinder.

The printing process, although noisy, is remarkably quick, clean and efficient. Only two people are needed to control the giant offset machine, along with another to load the paper and ensure the free flow of the inks. Now anyone familiar with basic printing techniques will recognise all the above. It is fairly run-of-the-mill printing technology, albeit at the highest levels of skill and on an impressively large scale.

1985 Aseanpex

2008-05-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

1985 Aseanpex (Asean Philatelic Exhibition)

Malaysia is proud to hold the first Aseanpex exhibition in March 1985 (Singapore held the second Aseanpex in March 1986). The exhibition was held from 9 March 1985 to 24 March 1985 (16 days!!) in the National Museum, Kuala Lumpur. It was really cool to have such event lasting for half a month. You don't really get such opportunities nowadays. The latest Aseanpex that I have attended in 2005, KL Sentral, was so small that only Malaysia and Singapore booths available.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999. This is why you can only see 6 flags on this souvenir cover, because as at 1985, ASEAN members only comprises of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. As of now, ASEAN have 10 members and their latest philatelic breakthrough would be the joint issue of 40th years of Asean Building in 2007.

The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies.

Please note that this is a preprinted cover and the "stamp" as appear on the cover is not a exact stamp. This would normally categorised as "postal stationery" under philatelic collection. In year 1985, POS Malaysia already had pictorial cancellation. However, no special cancellation were created for ASEANPEX 1985. Thus, all the 16 days exhibition cancellations were the dull circle as shown above.

2008 Olympic Torch Relay - III

2008-04-28T06:17:00.001-07:00

2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay - PSM Souvenior Cover

Above are the souvenior covers design by Philately Society of Malaysia ("PSM") for the Beijing 2008 Torch Relay in Kuala Lumpur on 21 April 2008. They are affixed with 4 design of corporate personalised stamp. A set of really nice cover worth to be added to your collection.

2008 Olympic Torch Relay - II

2008-04-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Kuala Lumpur - 21 April 2008

"Bei Bei"

In China's traditional culture and art, the fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest. And so Beibei carries the blessing of prosperity. A fish is also a symbol of surplus in Chinese culture, another measure of a good year and a good life.

The ornamental lines of the water-wave designs are taken from well-known Chinese paintings of the past. Among Fuwa, Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.

"Jing Jing"

Jingjing makes children smile -- and that's why he brings the blessing of happiness wherever he goes. You can see his joy in the charming naivety of his dancing pose and the lovely wave of his black and white fur. As a national treasure and a protected species, pandas are adored by people everywhere. The lotus designs in Jingjing's headdress, which are inspired by the porcelain paintings of the Song Dynasty (A.D.960-1234), symbolize the lush forest and the harmonious relationship between man and nature. Jingjing was chosen to represent our desire to protect nature's gifts -- and to preserve the beauty of nature for all generations. Jingjing is charmingly naïve and optimistic. He is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.

"Huan Huan"

In the intimate circle of Fuwa, Huanhuan is the big brother. He is a child of fire, symbolizing the Olympic Flame and the passion of sport -- and passion is the blessing he bestows. Huanhuan stands in the center of Fuwa as the core embodiment of the Olympic spirit. And while he inspires all with the passion to run faster, jump higher and be stronger, he is also open and inviting. Wherever the light of Huanhuan shines, the inviting warmth of Beijing 2008 -- and the wishful blessings of the Chinese people -- can be felt. The fiery designs of his head ornament are drawn from the famed Dunhuang murals -- with just a touch of China's traditional lucky designs. Huanhuan is outgoing and enthusiastic. He excels at all the ball games and represents the red Olympic ring.

"Ying Ying"

Like all antelopes, Yingying is fast and agile and can swiftly cover great stretches of land as he races across the earth. A symbol of the vastness of China's landscape, the antelope carries the blessing of health, the strength of body that comes from harmony with nature. Yingying's flying pose captures the essence of a species unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the first animals put under protection in China. The selection of the Tibetan Antelope reflects Beijing's commitment to a Green Olympics. His head ornament incorporates several decorative styles from the Qinghai-Tibet and Sinkiang cultures and the ethnic design traditions of Western China. Strong in track and field events, Yingying is a quick-witted and agile boy who represents the yellow Olympic ring.

"Ni Ni"

Every spring and summer, the children of Beijing have flown beautiful kites on the currents of wind that blow through the capital. Among the kite designs, the golden-winged swallow is traditionally one of the most popular. Nini's figure is drawn from this grand tradition of flying designs. Her golden wings symbolize the infinite sky and spread good-luck as a blessing wherever she flies. Swallow is also pronounced "yan" in Chinese, and Yanjing is what Beijing was called as an ancient capital city. Among Fuwa, Nini is as innocent and joyful as a swallow. She is strong in gymnastics and represents the green Olympic ring.

"Fu Niu Le Le"

Most people may not recognised this moscot. It is not as widely advertised as the Fuwa. However, as the moscot for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Game, I think it hold a more special meaning above all.

The design of Fu Niu Lele derives its inspiration from the farming cultivation culture of ancient Chinese civilization, and bears the following salient features:

Showing the rich concept of the Beijing Paralympic Games

Cows, symbolic of a down-to-earth, diligent, staunch and never-say-die spirit, are adopted to show the unremitting spirit of athletes with a disability in being the best they can be. It dovetails with the upbeat spirit of Paralympians and the concept of "Transcendence, Equality, Integration" of the Beijing Paralympic Games. The determined, optimistic and diligent spirit of cows reflects a positive attitude to life. The Paralympic Games calls for people with a disability to enjoy the same rights to compete in sports as anyone else, and to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the World, and thus develop their strength to add vigor and vitality to social progress. Fu Niu Lele invites people from across the globe to come to Beijing, enjoy the splendours of the Beijing Paralympic Games and see the inspiring performances of Paralympic athletes who achieve the unexpected.

Embodying the harmony between man and nature

As one of the animals closest to human beings, cows are well-known for their friendliness and their affinity to the humans who care for them. Throughout the history of the development of world civilization, poetry and songs have clearly expressed the aspiration of humankind for a harmonious life. Cows have often found their way into the natural, cozy and poetic country life reflected in literary and art works, showing public expectation for the harmonious coexistence between man and nature.In the traditional culture of China, cows are also depicted as animals considered auspicious in inviting good weather and bumper harvests.

Carrying rich national style and cultural features

The design scheme absorbs the modeling and design styles unique to China's folk engraved prints, New Year drawings, and toys. This, plus features unique to the modeling of modern cartoons, shows an integration of traditional folk style and public interest with that of modern times.

Cows are widely accepted internationally

Cows were one of the first animals depicted in literary and art works. Cases in point include the Lascaux mural in France and Altamira rock paintings in Spain, which all contain drawings of cows. Therefore, adopting cows as the mascot of the Paralympic Games, instead of traditional rare animals, is a creative act in terms of design to a certain extent.

2008 Olympic Torch Relay - I

2008-04-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in Kuala Lumpur - 21 April 2008

In commemorate the Olympic Torch Relay in Kuala Lumpur at 21 April 2008, I have made a set of 10 souvenir covers. Sadly to say that POS Malaysia did not produce anything cover/stamp/cancellation to celebrate this memorable events.

The first series consist of the following covers:

"Beijing 2008 Torch Relay Emblem and Slogan"

The Logo of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay owes much of its inspiration to the traditional concept of "fire phoenix", and presents the image of two runners holding the Olympic Flame high. As ancient Chinese legend has it, phoenix is the king of all birds, and symbolizes good fortune, eternity, nobility and happiness. The use of the phoenix image in the Torch Relay logo conveys the idea that the Torch Relay will send the best wishes from the Beijing Olympic Games to people all over China and the rest of the world.

The slogan of the relay is "Light the Passion Share the Dream". The slogan is highly expressive of the theme and distinctive in sentence structure. "Light the passion" captures the spirit of Olympic Torch Relay and is inspiring. "Share the Dream" falls within Olympic language terminology and correlates with the staging concepts of the Beijing Olympic Games and its "One World One Dream" slogan. The slogan is simple, meaningful and easy to remember, read and share.

"Beijing 2008 Torch"

The Beijing Olympic Torch boasts strong Chinese characteristics, and showcases Chinese design and technical capabilities. It embodies the concepts of a Green Olympics, a High-tech Olympics and the People's Olympics.

The torch is 72 centimetres high, weighs 985 grams and is made of aluminium. The torch is of a curved surface form, with etching and anodizing being used during its production. A torch can usually keep burning for approximately 15 minutes in conditions where the flame is 25 to 30 centimetres high in a windless environment. The torch has been produced to withstand winds of up to 65 kilometres per hour and to stay alight in rain up to 50mm an hour. The flame can be identified and photographed in sunshine and areas of extreme brightness. The fuel is propane which is in accordance with environmental guidelines. The material of its form is recyclable.

"Beijing 2008 Emblem and Slogan"

Every emblem of the Olympics tells a story. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emblem "Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing" is filled with Beijing's hospitality and hopes, and carries the city's commitment to the world.

"Dancing Beijing" serves as the city's foremost appearance. It is an image that shows the eastern ways of thinking and the nation's lasting appeal embodied in the Chinese characters. It is an expression that conveys the unique cultural quality and elegance of Chinese civilization.

With inspiration from the traditional Chinese art form - calligraphic art, the character "Jing" (the latter of the city's name) is developed into the form of a dancing human being, reflecting the ideal of a "New Olympics". The words "Beijing 2008" also resembles the vivid shapes of Chinese characters in handwriting, voicing in concise strokes of the countless feelings Chinese people possess towards the Olympics.As people ponder on the rich connotations and charms of these Chinese characters, a "New Beijing" has thus been brought forward.

The Slogan "One World One Dream" fully reflects the essence and the universal values of the Olympic spirit -- Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream. It expresses the common wishes of people all over the world, inspired by the Olympic ideals, to strive for a bright future of Mankind. In spite of the differences in colors, languages and races, we share the charm and joy of the Olympic Games, and together we seek for the ideal of Mankind for peace. We belong to the same world and we share the same aspirations and dreams.

"Beijing 2008 Mascot - Fuwa"

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.

======================================

I felt pretty proud, as a chinese, for China being able to organised Beijing 2008 Olympic games. I wish all the best to China and may the games be smoothly carried out.

For the next post, I will be posting the torch relay souvenior cover featuring the Olympic Mascot. So stay tune.

1995 National Stamp Exhibition

2008-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

1995 Kuching, Sarawak National Stamp Exhibition

"1995 Sarawak National Stamp Exhibition Cover"

Another major even for 1995 was the Kuching Sarawak National Exhibition. I have not taken part in this event and thus would not know how grand the event was and how long the exhibition last. As 26 September was Tuesday, thus i would assume that it lasted for a week.

As the exhibition start on the first day of issue for the Turtle of Malaysia booklet, thus this cover is sometime regarded as the official FDC for the stamps.

"1995 First Day Exhibition Cancellation"

A special pictorial cancellation is also issued for each day of the exhibition. The first day exhibition postmark feature the hornbill, the state identity for Sarawak. If you are interested in collecting all hornbill theme stamp/postal stationery from Malaysia, you may want to visit here.

1995 Turtle Booklet FDC

2008-04-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

1995 Turtle of Malaysia Booklet on FDC

"Turtle FDC - Kuala Lumpur version (front and back)"

1995 marked a crazy year for POS Malaysia as they have issued 3 booklets, ie: Marine Paradise, Turtle of Malaysia and Proton. What's interesting was that for all these 3 issues, a special pictorial cancellation was introduced, however, no official first day cover issued. Thus, philatelic enthusiasts have made their own copy of first day cover. However, through all my years of exploring, I could not find any nicely printed cachet for this issue. All 3 kinds of cover I found was just blank cover design using the booklet skin.

"Turtle FDC - Pulau Pinang version"

Pulau penang version is very nicely made using the booklet skin pasted on the face of the FDC (unlike the KL version which is pasted at the back of the cover). However, it has no full set of 10v turtle stamps.

"Turtle FDC - Melaka version"

As you can see from above, the Melaka version is the simplest among all.

1981 Chinwoo Exhibition

2008-04-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

1981 Chinwoo Stamp Exhibition

"Exhition Cover"

"Exhibition Invitation Card - Front"

"Exhibition Invitation Card - Back"

"Invitation Card - 1st page"

"Invitation Card - 2nd page"

Sometime, stamp exhibition are organised by the non philatelic association. For this case, the 1981 Chin Woo Stamp Exhibition was organised by the Persatuan Sukan Chinwoo Selangor (Chin Woo Athletic Association. This was pretty unusual. My guess was that someone in the Chin Woo Association was also a stamp fanatic.

The Chinwoo association has been very supportive in promoting stamp collecting. For instance, the recent Penang Philatelic stamp Fair from 15 - 16 December 2007 was also held in Penang Ladies Chin Woo Athletic Association, Anson Road.

"Chin Woo Emblem"

For the Chinese, when we heard about the word Chin Woo, we would most probably think about Kung Fu or Wu Shu.

The Chin Woo Association (formed in 1915) is a Chinese cultural association that oversees a number of sports and activities, mostly, but not entirely of Chinese origin. Since it's beginning, through to the present day, the pride that the Chinese have in their culture has been reflected by its huge membership and its striving for excellence. Like for example the British Amateur Sports association it controls, regulates and encourages the continuation of participation in the activities that it supports.

Originally based in China encouraging wushu - Chinese martial arts - only, it now covers many continents with branches in many parts of China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, England, Australia, U.S.A, Russia and many other countries, organising a huge spectrum of activities. Activities such as wushu, Chinese calligraphy, painting, music, dancing, cuisine, and many others of of Chinese origin are practised and taught under the Chin Woo in Asia as well as other parts of the world. Additionally the huge variety of more Western type activities and sports in Asian countries including tennis, basketball and football are almost entirely organised by the Chin Woo, which is the case in Malaysia where the Chin Woo is particularly well established.

The Chin Woo was officially founded in 1915 by the students of a wushu shi fu, a Master and teacher of wushu called Huo Yean Jia (there is even a movie about him starring Jet Li). However although officially founded by these students it was this Huo himself whose work really established it and is recognised as the true founder. The Chin woo having been founded on the spirit of a martial art represents a great pride in all things Chinese. Martial arts as the name suggests have developed from methods of war, strategy or technique be it armed or unarmed, and war is ofter waged on external forces, thereby accentuating national feeling. The timing of the Chin Woo's birth is also of no coincidence. It was born out of two centuries of desperation and low moral for China, who had been humiliated, attacked, invaded conquered by a number of foreign powers, which is immensely degrading for any country, more so for a proud one with a history of being the "Emperor of Asia".

You could search the web for more information about this association.

Lastly, I thank this association in their effort in promoting philately.

1972 Stampex

2008-04-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

1972 Silver Jubilee Stampex

"Type A"

The above is a souvenir card issued for the Silver Jubilee Stamp Exhibition held at National Museum from 9 September to 24 September 1972. The front of the souvenir card shows Malaysia flag with a printed "Leaping Tiger" $2 stamp. The back of the card shows a hibiscus, Malaysia national flowers.

Official exhibition cancellation for Silver Jubilee Stampex

"Type B"

For this exhibition, 2 type of exhibition cards were issued. One was with the tag "Dikelolakan oleh: Persatuan Setem Malaysia (Philatelic Society of Malaysia)" (see Type B) while the other is without (see Type A). Both souvenir cards are different in size (the on with the tag is longer).

I have a full set of this souvenir card with each day cancellation. From 9 sept - 13 Sept, it is canceled with "F" cancellation while from 14 Sept - 24 Sept it is a normal cancellation (see Type B).

My set show that 9 Sept - 17 Sept are Type A card and 18 Sept - 24 Sept are type B card. It could be that Type A cards were sold out and thus Type B were printed to replenish the stock.

1970 Sarawak Exhibition

2008-04-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

1970 Sarawak Philatelic Society First Postage Stamp Exhibition

Malaysia has many individual philatelic society which actively promotes stamp collecting within a particular state or area. The society which I know off are Philatelic Society of Malaysia or PSM (formally known as Selangor Stamp Society), Penang Philatelic Society, Sarawak Philatelic Society, Perak Philatelic and Numismatic Society etc. Some of these philatelic society may not be even exist anymore. However, the commemorative exhibition covers issued by them for stamp exhibition has always been my interest in stamp collecting.

The cover shown above are to commemorate the first philatelic exhibition by the Sarawak Philatelic Society. This exhibition was held from 30th May to 1st June in 1970 (3 days) at Fuchou Associations Sibu.

I have been trying to get more information about this society online but in vain. Any of the readers who are a members or have knowledge about this philatelic society are welcome to share it with me.

However, I do come across a interesting website about Sarawak stamps at http://sarawakstamps.com/default.aspx.

1994 SUKOM

2008-03-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

1994 Kuala Lumpur XVI Commonwealth Games Souvenir Cover

In 1994, 2 covers were issued to commemorative the launching of the Commonwealth Games ("SUKOM '98) Mascot and Baton Relay.

12 April 1994 - Launching of SUKOM'98 Mascot

This cover illustrate the mascot for SUKOM '98, which was the Orang Utan. It also marked the launching of the SUKOM'98 logo, a "98" which mimic the hibiscus flower, the national flower of Malaysia.

13 April 1994 - Baton Relay Stopover

Since 1958, there has been a relay of athletes carrying a baton from Buckingham Palace to the Opening Ceremony. This baton has within it the Queen's Message of Greeting to the athletes. The baton's final bearer is usually a famous sporting personage of the host nation.

This cover marks the baton relay stopover from Victoria, Canada to the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Victoria was the organising city for Commonwealth Game 1994.

The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 11 to September 21, 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th Century. A record 70 nations (34 of which collected medals) supplied 3638 athletes.

Back of the Cover: "This cover was issued by the Philatelic Society of Malaysia Olympic & Sports Study Group (PSM OSPG) with the support & cooperation of SUKOM 98 & Pos Malaysia"

The covers were issued by the Philatelic Society of Malaysia.

Additional News: Souvenir Cover Beijing Olympics 2008

A souvenir cover to commemorate the Malaysia leg of the torch relay run for the Beijing Olympics 2008 on 21.4.2008 will be produced. Olympics torch run is a first time for Malaysia. Anybody interested in the purchase of the above commemorative covers duly postmarked on the 21.4.2008 + a special cachet will be made available. Kindly contact the PSM secretariat for further information. Please see http://www.psmonline.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1033 for further information

1998 Stamp Week

2008-03-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

1998 Stamp Week - Insects

Stamp Week 1998 was held from 26 November - 6 December 1998 (9 days) at the General Post Office Komplek Dayabumi building. This was a very nice cover featuring insects in Malaysia. The cover was designed by PK.Chua, whose signature is on the cover.

Stamp Week Cancellation
(gotten from the Stamp Week Venue)

This was the first year of stamp week where POS Malaysia issued various pictorial cancellation for each 9 days of the events. The pictorial cancellation are illustrated as above. However, I still can't get any FDC with these 9 days cancellation for my collection. If anybody who read this and would like to sell/exchange with me a copy this cover, I will be very thankful.

Pewter and Niobium FDC was also issued for this event. However, I have none of these in my collection and thus could not share it with you all. There was also a imperf sheetlet of 4 miniature sheet issued. The original selling price, if not mistaken was RM40. For your information, as of today, you still could get this item at certain small post office for the original price. I guess not much collector was interested in collect it.

1970 Malaysia Exhibition

2008-03-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

1970 First Malaysian Stamp Exhibition

A very nice cover to commerative the FIRST Malaysian Stamp Exhibition. It was held from 14 - 27 Decmber 1970 at the National Muzium.

The cover illustrates some old tiger stamps with a matching tiger exhibition cancellation. Nice.

The exhibition was organised by Philately Society of Malaysia (formerly known as Selangor Stamp Society). Check out their webside at www.psmonline.org if you wish to join as a member. PSM hold monthly auction while provide a lot of other goodies for members.

1997 Stamp Week

2008-03-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

1997 Stamp Week - Protected Wildlife

The above is the protected wildlife FDC issued for the 1997 stamp week. The miniature sheet issued was superb and nice (as usual, they are design by the all famous Mr Tay Yew Kiang). However, the cover design was very disappointing. Since 1957, we barely see any mono-colored FDC any more. And now, it resurfaced again. I believe Pos Malaysia had design the cover last minute.

Special stamp week cancellation like this could be gotten if you have attended the event at GPO Kuala Lumpur. Again, similar to 1996 stamp week, it is a big event with tons of activities.

Due to the sucky FDC, I had decided to purchase the pewter and nobium FDC. Now, these FDC design is more like it. With both covers illustrating the rain forest in Malaysia. Note that both covers design are different. The nobium FDC is nicer with the gold covered fish with nobium deep blue background. The original selling price for the nobium FDC is RM98 while the pewter on is RM25.

I am glab I bought both and got the stamp week cancellations as well as the designer's signature on them.

Now, if you look at ebay or some of the philatelic website, you may notice this miniature sheet ("MS"). It is not listed in the catalougue by International Stamps and Coins. This MS was issued by the Southern Colour Print in commemorative of the Stamp Week.

Southern Colour Print is a New Zealand Company specialised in the secure printing of stamps, books etc (see more details at http://www.gsponline.co.nz/). They were present at the 1997 stamp week, on invitation by Pos Malaysia, to demonstrate the printing of MS. Thus, this was the design that they had come out. Very limited quantity of this miniature sheet were noted. I was glad to get the New Zealand designer's signature on this cover too.

1995 Marine Paradise

2008-03-23T09:54:00.001-07:00

1995 The Marine Paradise of Malaysia Booklet of Private FDC

In the olden days, Postal Services in Malaysia had not issued its own First Day Cover. Thus, the public had made their own private catchet to commerative a new stamp issue. This is why if you look at the highly porpular Merdeka FDC, you could see so many version of it. At the 50th years Merdeka Anniversary Philatelic Exhibition in Penang in 2007, 30 official Merdeka FDC and 50 unofficial Merdeka FDC are display as exhibits, which marked how crazy the people at that time about that event and the releasing of a stamp to commerative it.

However, in the 1960's, when Pos Malaysia started to issued FDC, private cachet is not so popular anymore. Thus, the activity of making private cachet for stamps first day of issue seem to die down until year 1995, where The Marine Paradise of Malaysia booklet was issued. Pos Malaysia had not printed any FDC nor pictorial cancellation regarding this stamp issue. Thus, a very limited version of this FDCs were made by public. As far as I know, this is the only version I have seen so far.

2006 600th Anniversary

2008-03-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

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.

1966 PO Exhibition

2008-03-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

1996 Penang Post Office Philatelic Exhibition Cover

This is an exhibition cover posted from the Post Office Philatelic Exhibition (Pameran Setem Pejabat Post) in 1966. The exhibition ran for a period of 19 days from 17 August - 4 September!! Wau, that was pretty long. It could be the exhibition held for the longest period in Malaysia history.

The cover has a very nice design featuring the 1965 Malaysia birds series. What are odd about it is the stamps affixed on it. Those are Singapore stamp commerating the the 1st anniversary of republic issued on 9 August 1966. As mentioned in my previous blog, Singapore had merged with Melaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form "Malaysia" as the result of 1962 Merger Referendum of Singapore. Singapore was expelled from the federation two years later, on 9 August 1965 after heated ideological conflict between the state's PAP government and the federal Kuala Lumpur government.

So if Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965, was its stamps still valid to be used for postal purposed within Malaysia? Ironically, the cover was also cancelled on 31 August 1966, Malaysia national day. Classic.

1995 FFC

2008-03-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

1995 First Flight Cover ("FFC") - KL to Vancouver

Have you ever come across such cover? It is call the first flight cover. A "First Flight Cover" is a commemorative envelope for an airlines inauguration of a new route or service, which is similar to the FDC which commemorative for issue of new stamps. They can be anywhere from plain envolope to very nicely designed covers with colorful (sometimes pertinent) stamps and cancellations.

First flight cover normally come in pairs. For examples, please see the 2 cover below:

Cover A

Cover B

Both the covers were to commemorative first flight of the Malaysia-Singapore Airline to Perth and vice versa. Cover A was sent from Singapore to Perth while Cover B was sent from Perth to Singapore. Both the cover affixed with the actual postage cost required for such destination at that time. Thus, they are valuable items for aerophilately research. From my experience, matching pair of FFCs are really hard to come by.

I have not come across any documentation/catalogue which outlines all the FFC in Malaysia yet. I hope those who are specialized in this field could one day publish more information for Malaysia FFC such that it benefits all stamp enthusiasts.

1963 Malaysia

2008-03-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

1963 - Malaysia Celebration

In 1963, Malaya along with the then-British crowned colonies of Singapore, Sabah (British North Borneo) and Sarawak formed Malaysia. The Sultanate of Brunei, though initially expressing interest in joining the Federation, withdrew from the planned merger due to opposition from certain segments of its population as well as arguments over the payment of oil royalties and the status of the Sultan in the planned merger.

This FDC was issued to commemorate the formation of Malaysia. It has a pic of the former prime minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) and Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah (also known as the "Malaysia Father of Independence") being welcomed at the Kuala Lumpur Airport (Subang Air Port) after successfully discussed the "Malaysia talk" in London in 1962. This pic marked one of the classic moment in the formation of Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew looked pretty handsome then.

What amazes me is that the graphic resolution used in this FDC. It should be around 300dpi. With the 1963 technology, is it even possible to privately print such a high resolution covers? Just look at some of the other 1960's covers:

Now, if you compare the FDC design of that era, you will understand why this privately made cachet is so special. However, unfortunately, the cover is in a very bad condition and thus should not worth much... sad.

The above is the official FDC issued by Pos Malaysia (formerly known as Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos). If you have this FDC, you will notice that the "Berjaya Malaysia" at the top left corner is pasted on it after the cover being printed. I believe there is some printing error on this cover. If any reader have any info about this, you are welcome to share it under "comments".

1996 Stamp Week

2008-03-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

1996 – Stamp Week: Wildlife

1996 Stamp Week was the first stamp week organised by POS Malaysia from 2 - 7 December 2006. It was held in GPO Kuala Lumpur. The Stamp Week was a really great event with more than 15 booths of stamp dealers (if I remember clearly) from local and other Asia countries participated. The artist for this set of stamp, Mr Tay Yew Kiang, was also present to sign for the FDC.

The "Stamp Week '96" cancellation could only be gotten at the stamp week venue. This issues did not have the day-to-day stamp week cancellation.

The event was very grand with tons of people, dealers and stamp club participated. If you compared it to the recent 2007 stamp week held in 1 Utama Shopping Center with only 3 dealers and 1 Pos Malaysia booth, you will know what I meant. I wonder if it is due to the limited budget or the declining of Malaysian enthusiast in philately, the Stamp Week event is getting smaller and smaller…..

One special item worthwhile to be added to all philately fanatic collection is the Litho Print special cover. It originally cost RM15.

Litho actually refers to "lithography" in short. Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface. Invented by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder in 1796, it can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or other suitable material.

Lithography is a printing process that uses chemical processes to create an image. For instance, the positive part of an image would be a hydrophobic chemical, while the negative image would be water. Thus, when the plate is introduced to a compatible ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the positive image and the water will clean the negative image. This allows for a relatively flat print plate which allows for much longer runs than the older physical methods of imaging (e.g., embossing or engraving).

If you would like to find out more about lithography, please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography

1965 Birds

2008-03-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

1965 Birds Definitive Series - Post Office Stamp Exhibition

As the first post for this blog, I would like to show you my personal favorite cover of all time. The 1965 national definitive series were the first definitive stamps issued after the independence before they were replaced by the 1970 national butterflies series.

This sets of stamp contained 8 stamps featuring birds in Malaysia with denomination of 25c, 30c, 50c, 75c, $1, $2, $5 and $10 (total face value of $19.80 on the FDC). $19.80 meant a lot in 1965!!! Just imagine, a bowl of noodles would only cost you 30c at that time while now it cost you like $3. Due to the high value, it was pretty hard to get a full set on the FDC. The FDC you will normally find from dealers and collectors would only be the low value from the sets, ie: 25c, 30c, 50c, 75c. This set has a lot of variety such as watermark inverted, blue omitted, dot in “Y” etc in them. For details of these, please check the Standard Catalogue of Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei by International Stamp & Coin Sdn. Bhd.

What makes this FDC a little bit more special is its “1965 Pameran Setem Pejabat Pos” (which mean “Post Office Stamp Exhibition”) cancellation. I am not sure where the venue of this exhibition held. But I guess it should be at Dayabumi Complex, Pos Malaysia Headquarters. If any of the readers have any information about this event, please also share it with us under the “comments".