Saturday 27 February 2010

Tiger Stamps - Perforation and Watermark Varieties

The tiger stamps released on February 23, 2010 have perforation and watermark varieties. There are two watermark varieties - sideway up and sideway down. It looks like the sideway down is less common (not rare). On the other hand, the perforation varieties are found within a single stamp sheet. The tiger stamps were printed in a format of sheet-of-20 with the stamp layout as shown in the diagram below. The perforation for all the horizontal lines within the sheet has a size of P13.5. However, not all the vertical lines in the sheet have a perforation size of P13.5. The right most vertical line has a perforation size P14, and the other vertical lines are P13.5. So, this means that only the Malayan tiger stamp has two types of perforations. Both the sideway up and sideway down watermarked sheets have the same combination of perforations. Have you got these varieties? If no, then go to hunt for them!


the stamp layout of a sheet. The red lines are P13.5 and the green line is P14. KT is Korean Tiger/Siberian Tiger and MT is Malayan Tiger


Domestic Registered Cover 037

Sungei Siput K3, Perak; date: February 18, 2010


A Registered Cover from Germany

Essen; date: February 11, 2010


An ATM Cover from Singapore

Singapore postal authority issued a new ATM on February 22, 2010. Terence sent me this ATM cover from Singapore. The new ATM from Singapore is beautiful indeed.


Singapore Post Centre 1; date: February 22, 2010


Friday 26 February 2010

Wow! Postally Used Stamps of Thailand

Wow..... these postally used stamps of Thailand are fabulous. I just love them.



Tuesday 23 February 2010

Maxicards - Siberian Tiger

The tiger stamps issued on February 23, 2010 are definitely popular stamps for making maxicards. I believe that there would be many maxicard enthuasiasts have created nice maxicards for these tiger stamps. I have two maxicards created using one of the tiger stamps - the Siberian tiger. The postcards show the Siberian tiger therefore the Siberian tiger stamp was used to create the maxicards.





Malaysia 2010 - Malaysia-South Korea Joint Issue: Tigers

Pos Malaysia released today her second stamp issue for year 2010 - Malaysia-South Korea Joint Issue. The subject used in the joint issue is tiger. This joint issue is actually also to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Malaysia-Korea Diplomatic Relations. Two tiger stamps with denomination of 50 sen were issued - one stamp depicts Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and the other one on Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni). The Siberian tiger and Malayan tiger are different subspecies of tiger. The Siberian tiger is the largest tiger subspecies distributed from Russia to Korea. On the other hand, the Malayan tiger is the smallest tiger subspecies confined to Peninsular Malaysia.

These tiger stamps are absolutely beautiful. It is indeed a very pleasant surprise from Pos Malaysia to have such a beautiful stamp set to coincide the year of tiger. The South Korea counterpart also issued the same design of the tiger stamps on the same day.



the left is Siberian tiger and the right is Malayan tiger


A Cover from Portugal

Amadora; date: February 13, 2010


Sunday 21 February 2010

Friday 19 February 2010

Malaysia Postmarks 058

PP Jalan Laksamana K4, Melaka; date: December 17, 2009

PM Pasar Rakyat, Kuala Lumpur; date: January 26, 2010

Pusat Mel Kuala Lumpur M4, Kuala Lumpur; date: February 4, 2010


A Registered Cover from Taiwan

Pingtung, Ming Sen Road; date: February 1, 2010


A Cover from Germany

February 11, 2010


A Cover from China

Date: February 6, 2010


A PAM Cover

Pusat Mel Kuala Lumpur M4; date: February 12, 2010
The PAM label was printed on February 11, 2010


A Cover from Thailand

date: February 6, 2010


Sunday 7 February 2010

My Favourite Choices of Malaysia 2009 Stamp Sets

I put up a poll for Most Favourite Malaysia 2009 Stamp Sets, and the results can be viewed here. I was the person who originated the poll, therefore I did not cast my vote.

Well, I think I should voice up my own favourite stamp sets, shouldn't I? My choices of stamp sets are:
i) Unique Birds
ii) Garden Flower State Definitive MS
iii) UNESCO WHS

Bird stamps are always my favourite topic. The bird stamps from Pos Malaysia are always gorgeous, particularly those designed by Teh Yew Kiang. These unique bird stamps and miniature sheet are work of Teh Yew Kiang! The miniature sheet portrays hornbills, which is another scoring point because I just love hornbills. The hornbill species in the stamp of the miniature sheet is a plain-pouched hornbill, and this is the first time plain-pouched hornbill being depicted on Malaysia stamp! Apart from all these, the unintentional error (missing the country name Malaysia) created on the miniature sheet has made this stamp set well known throughout the world. So, this stamp set is definitely my first choice.

My second choice is Garden Flower State Definitive MS. Well, this is actually a re-issued stamp set. The original stamp set was released on December 31, 2007. Many collectors find this stamp set was unneccessary. I do agree with them. For me, however, these Garden Flower State Definitives are just too gorgeous to be resisted, and I always have deep passion on definitive stamps. The Agro-Based Product State Definitives are one of those challenging ones for many collectors. It looks like the Garden Flower State Definitives are going to be on the same path as the Agro-Based Product State Definitives - posing same challenging task for collectors. All the stamps in the Garden Flower State Definitive MS are considered new stamps for serious collectors because the gum used in these stamps (brown gum) is different from the one (green/creamy gum) in the original stamps. Furthermore, the change of ruler's portrait for Negeri Sembilan on the re-issued stamps makes a bonus point to this stamp set. Now, many serious collectors are eagerly waiting for the reprints (100-stamp-sheet) of the Garden Flower State Definitive stamps.

My third choice is UNESCO WHS stamp set. These UNESCO WHS stamps are absolutely beautiful. The bonus point is the use of UNESCO WHS logo on the stamps. It is just like the WWF stamps with WWF logo. I foresee the popularity of UNESCO WHS (with logo) stamps in future as those of the WWF stamps. I particularly like the stamp showing Mt. Kinabalu. It reminds me very much my experience of climbing the Mt. Kinabalu in April 2003..... I reached the top of the mountain..... it was a tough and joyful experience for me, and it will stay deep in my memory for the rest of my life......



Thursday 4 February 2010

Postal Card - 1-Malaysia

Pos Malaysia released two postal cards with different design on February 4, 2010. These postcards are joint issued by Pos Malaysia and RTM (Radio and Television of Malaysia). It is part of the 1-Malaysia programme. At the back of the postcard, a stamp with denomination 30 sen is pre-printed at the right top corner. The design of the pre-printed 30 sen stamp is one of the stamps issued on August 31, 2009. These postal cards are sold at 50 sen each. The postal cards are for slogan competition, and Malaysians can fill up a slogan and send out the postal cards.


Postal Card - Design One

Postal Card - Design Two

Postal Card - the back view; Postmark - Kajang 2020 K3, date: February 4, 2010


A Cover from France

This is a stamp-pre-printed cover of France sent from Rue Daguerre, Paris on January 21, 2010.