Saturday 29 August 2009

Friday 28 August 2009

Malaysia - Slogan Postmark

Presented here is the latest slogan postmark of Malaysia. The slogan postmark reads as:


1-Malaysia
Rakyat Didahulukan
Pencapaian Diutamakan


Kuala Lumpur 12; date: August 26, 2009

Kuala Lumpur 2; date: August 26, 2009


Pitcher Plant - Madagascar 1973

The postal authority of Madagascar released a set of floral stamps on August 6, 1973. Two stamps (denominations 25f and 40f) have image of pitcher plant (same species). The pitcher plant species depicted on the stamps should be Nepenthes madagascariensis. However, the species inscription on the stamps is Nepenthes pervillei. So, it is a misidentification of the pitcher plant species.

Nepenthes pervillei is endemic to Seychelles Island while N. madagascariensis is endemic to Madagascar Island. These two species are easily distinguished by the shape of pitcher. Actually, N. madagascariensis is the first Nepenthes species to be discovered (in 1685). It is distributed along the eastern coast of Madagascar.


the pitcher plant species on the stamps is Nepenthes madagascariensis not Nepenthes pervillei


Pitcher Plant - UN New York

The postal authority of United Nations (New York) released a set of endangered floral stamps on March 14, 1996. One of the stamps shows a pitcher plant species - Cephalotus follicularis. Cephalotus follicularis known as West Australian pitcher plant is endemic to southwestern part of Australia. This pitcher plant species is classified under the family Cephalotaceae, which is quite different from the common pitcher plant family Nepentheceae endemic to Southeast Asia. In fact, C. follicularis is more closely related to apple and oak than Nepenthes plants, scientifically. Family Cephalotaceae is a monotypic family and Cephalotus is a monotypic genus, meaning that there is only one species in the family Cephalotaceae - C. follicularis. Eventhough C. follicularis is only found in Australia, Australian postal authority has yet issued stamp on this spectacular plant species.



Thursday 27 August 2009

Unique Cover from Kuala Terengganu - Inverted Date

kkkhor sent me this cover with machine cancellation from Terengganu on August 22, 2009. It is really a pleasant surprise to receive this cover on two counts. First, the machine cancellation has the words BAYARAN POS JELAS (meaning postage paid). Secondly, the date of the postmark is inverted. This is an ordinary mail, the Kuala Terengganu Mail Centre supposed not to use cancellation BAYARAN POS JELAS. Normally, BAYARAN POS JELAS cancellation is in red ink, but the BAYARAN POS JELAS cancellation on this cover is in black!

Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu; date: August 22, 2009


Domestic Registered Cover 019

Bt 18 Jln Semenyih K1, Selangor; date: August 22, 2009


Wednesday 26 August 2009

Maxi Card - Penang Government Building

Below is a maxi card created using a stamp (UNESCO World Heritage Sites) released on April 9, 2009. The stamp shows the image of Penang Government Building located in the Penang Island. The postcard shows the Penang Government Building. The postmark is the special postmark of the stamp issue for Penang Post Office.



Maxi Card - Sri Saujana Bridge II

Below is a maxi card created using a stamp (Engineering Excellence of Nation Building) released on April 20, 2009. The stamp used in the making of the maxi card contains a small image of bridge (Sri Saujana Bridge). The postcard shows the Sri Saujana Bridge in Putrajaya. The postmark is the special postmark of the stamp issue for Putrajaya (the nearest post office to the Sri Saujana Bridge).



The same stamp and postmark were also used on a different postcard to make a maxicard. Click here to see the maxicard.

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Hornbill Stamp - Sarawak

Borneo is the land of hornbill. In many occasions, hornbill images have appeared on stamps of North Borneo (Sabah). As a part of Borneo, Sarawak is not spared from issuing stamps of hornbill. The most depicted hornbill species on stamps of North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak is rhinoceros hornbill. Below is a stamp of Sarawak with an image of rhinoceros hornbill. The stamp was issued on October 1, 1957.




Portugal ATM - Recycling

Below is a set of ATM stamps for awareness of recycling (reciclagem in portuguese). The ATMs were released on April 15, 2009.



Portugal ATM - 50 Years of Institute of Blood

Below is a set of ATM stamps commemorating 50 years of the Portuguese Institute of Blood. The ATMs were released on October 31, 2008.



A Cover from Portugal

Restairadpres 1250; date: August 15, 2009


Monday 24 August 2009

North Borneo - Postage Due II

Below are some postage due stamps of North Borneo issued in 1903-1911. The stamps were overprinted with British Protectorate.



North Borneo - Postage Due I

I purchased some North Borneo stamps a few years back. There were some postage due stamps in the purchase. I'm delighted to share with you here these gorgeous postage due stamps from North Borneo.


year of issue: 1897


year of issue: 1895


year of issue: 1901


year of issue: 1901


year of issue: 1901


year of issue: 1926


year of issue: 1921


Friday 21 August 2009

Pitcher Plant Stamps of Malaysia

Pitcher plants scientifically known as Nepenthes are one of the most spectacular plant species on earth. The centre of diversity of Nepenthes is in Borneo Island housing 36 species. Malaysia postal authority has on a few occasions released stamps showing images of Nepenthes. So far, four Nepenthes species have been depicted on stamps of Malaysia, i.e. N. sanguinea, N. macfarlanei, N. rajah and N. lowii. N. sanguinea has wider distribution in Peninsular Malaysia while N. macfarlanei is found from Kelantan to Selangor. On the other hand, both N. rajah and N. lowii are endemic to Borneo.

On April 6, 1996, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of four stamps on topic of pitcher plants. Four pitcher plant species were depicted on the stamps, i.e. N. sanguinea, N. macfarlanei, N. rajah and N. lowii. The stamps were printed in format of setenat pair.

left: N. sanguinea; right: N. macfarlanei

left: N. rajah; right: N. lowii



On December 31, 1999, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of 10 stamps to commemorate the new millennium. One of the stamps shows an image of pitcher plant. The pitcher plant species depicted in the stamp is N. lowii.

N. lowii


On April 26, 2006, postal authority of Malaysia released a set of four stamps on topic of mountains of Malaysia. One of the stamps depicting Mt. Ledang has an image of pitcher plant. The pitcher plant species on the stamp is N. sanguinea. The most conspicious pitcher plant species at Mt. Ledang is N. sanguinea, and this information is well presented on the stamp.

N. sanguinea


Sunday 16 August 2009

Postmarks of Malaysia 051

PP Tesco Kajang K1, Selangor; date: August 15, 2009

PP Tesco Kajang K2, Selangor; date: August 15, 2009

Bt 18 Jln Semenyih K1, Selangor; date: August 15, 2009

Bt 18 Jln Semenyih K2, Selangor; date: August 15, 2009


Saturday 15 August 2009

Revenue Stamp - RM1

The new design revenue stamps were released on February 1, 2009. Five denominations were issued at that time i.e. RM5, RM10, RM50, RM100 and RM250. So, the smallest denomination at the initial release was RM5. However, RM1 revenue stamp is needed for some documents due to change of revenue policy (I am not sure for what kind of documents), therefore the Inland Revenue Department has decided to release RM1 revenue stamp. The new denominaton RM1 was released in August 2009. As the other denominations, the RM1 revenue stamp has similar design and is also printed in sheetlet of 20.




Tuesday 11 August 2009

Pitcher Plants - Indonesia 2007

Among the many flora stamps, stamps depicting pitcher plants (Nepenthes sp.) are one of the most fascinating flora stamps. Belonging to family Nepentheceae, pitcher plants are carnivorous and have limited distribution in South-East Asia region with westwards to Madagascar and southwards to northern part of Australia. Many countries have released stamps with topic of pitcher plants such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Singapore, India, Seychelles, Madagascar, Palau etc.

Recently, I obtained some pitcher plant stamps of Indonesia, and I just love them. The stamps were released to commemorate the 20th Asian International Stamp Exhibition in Bangkok on August 3-12, 2007. Two species of pitcher plants are depicted in the stamps - Nepenthes mirabilis and Nepenthes ampullaria. Both the species could be found in Malaysia as well.

left is N. maribilis and right is N. ampullaria; both the stamps have denomination Rp2500

this miniature sheet contains two blocks of stamps and each block consists of 2 sets of stamps; all the stamps have denomination Rp1500


Friday 7 August 2009

Maxi Card - Bajau Laut House

This is a maxi card realized by using one of the stamps from the issue on topic Traditional Houses released on July 9, 2009. The special postmark of Kota Kinabalu is used to cancel the maxi card.



Thursday 6 August 2009

Malaysia - Tax Cover

A tax cover sent from Kuala Lumpur on August 3, 2009. The acutal postage of the cover should be 50 sen, but only 30 sen stamp was placed on the cover. The tax mark indicates 20 sen in short.

Kuala Lumpur 03; date: August 3, 2009


A Cover from Portugal

Amadora 2700; date: July 25, 2009


A Cover from Thailand

Sam Sen Nai; date: July 25, 2009


Monday 3 August 2009

Rafflesia - the Largest Flower in the World

The family Rafflesiaceae (in strict sense) consists of three genera - Rafflesia, Rhizanthes and Sapria. These three genera containing over 20 species are confined to South-East Asia region. The genus Rafflesia is claimed to be the largest flower in the world - the flower of Rafflesia arnoldii measuring up to 150 cm in diameter. The three Rafflesiaceae genera (Rafflesia, Rhizanthes and Sapria) have been portrayed in postage stamps:

stamp of Rafflesia pricei issued by Brunei postal authority on October 2, 2000

stamp of Rhizanthes lowii issued by Brunei postal authority on October 2, 2000

stamp of Sapria poilanei issued by Thai postal authority on October 9, 2006


A few postal authorities from Southeast Asia have issued stamps on Rafflesia i.e. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. Below are stamps of Malaysia showing Rafflesia flower. Rafflesia hasseltii is the first Rafflesia species appeared for the very first time on stamp of Malaysia. Malaysia postal authority issued this stamp in 1979. The stamp with the denomination 1c is part of the state definitive stamp set issued for 13 states and a federal territory. Therefore, altogether 14 Rafflesia stamps were released on that issue.

Rafflesia stamp for Federal Territory

Rafflesia stamps for 13 states. From left to right: Perlis, Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sarawak and Sabah.


On March 19, 2007, Malaysia postal authority issued a set of stamps to commemorate Vist Malaysia Year 2007. One of the stamps contain a small Rafflesia image (see blow). The Rafflesia species in the stamp is most like R. hasseltii.

a Rafflesia flower is located at the right bottom of the stamp.



On September 2, 2004, Malaysia postal authority issued a set of stamps to commemorate the COP7 Convention on Biological Diversity and MOP1 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. One of the stamps shows an image of Rafflesia. I think the Rafflesia species is most like R. cantleyi.

the Rafflesia flower is located next to the elephant.



On March 19, 2004, Malaysia postal authority issued a set of stamps to commemorate Commonwealth Country Tourism Ministers' Convention. One of the stamps contains an image of Rafflesia flower. The Rafflesia species identity is unknown.

the Rafflesia flower is located at the right bottom of the stamp.