2005 Bird Definitives - RM5 2007/1

Finally, the RM5 bird definitive (released on 14 May 2005) has been printed in the format of 100 stamp-sheet. Therefore, to date, five denominations have appeared in the format of 100 stamp-sheet. The other four denominations are 20 sen, 30 sen, 50 sen and RM1. The first number serial for this RM5 stamp in the format of 100 stamp-sheet is 2007/1. As usually, the RM5 stamp from the 100 stamp-sheet (denoted here as new print) has upright watermark while the one from the 20 stamp-sheetlet (denoted here as original print; the bird definitive stamps initially were printed in the format of 20 stamp-sheetlet mainly for collectors) has inverted watermark.


Inverted watermark comes out from time to time in new prints for this bird definitive series, though it is not that common. For instance, this has been demonstrated in the new prints of the denomination 30 sen. Therefore, watermark is not a definite answar to the identification of the new prints. Then, how to distinguish the new print from the original print?

The stamp on the left is of the original print, and the one from right is of the new print.

Well, the answer is laid on the relative distance of wordings to the images (see below). The word "Malaysia" is located further in for the original print but further out for the new print; the word "RM5" is closer to the bird for the original print but more distance for the new print; and the word "Besar" is located below a small tree branch for the original print but on the tree branch for the new print.

The left ones are of the original print, and the right ones are of the new print.