Tuesday 31 May 2011

Happy Festivals!!!!!

Gayu Guru, Gerai Nyamai, Nguan Menua..... Happy Gawai!!!!

And so, not to forget Happy Tadau Kaamatan!!!!!




Aga Khan Stamp Sheet

This Aga Khan stamp was released in 2007. It is one of the "expensive" recent modern Malaysia stamps. Aga Khan stamp sheet is more expensive (a 20-stamp sheet is more expensive than 20 pieces of single stamp). Of course, it is more beautiful in a format of 20-stamp sheet. :)




Monday 30 May 2011

Half a Sheet - Kedah Stamps

The below stamps were released in1983. They are in just half a sheet.....




Half a Sheet - Terengganu Stamps

The stamps shown below were released in 1981. They are just in half a sheet....




Half a Sheet - Kelantan Stamps

The stamps shown below were issued in 1980. They are in just half a sheet....




Thursday 26 May 2011

Some Beautiful Sarawak Stamps

year of issue: 1950-52


year of issue: 1955-57


Revenue RM10 - Serial Number

The currently used revenue stamps are printed in a format of sheetlet of 20 stamps. The right bottom corner margin of the sheetlet is printed with serial number. However, some of the RM10-stamp sheetlets are printed without serial number.


serial number appears at the bottom right corner of sheetlet


serial number is absent from the bottom right corner of sheetlet


Tuesday 24 May 2011

2005 Bird Definitives

The "high" value bird definitives (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 75s, RM1, RM2 and RM5) were released on May 14, 2005. These bird definitives were supposed to replace the previous high value fruit definitives (40s, 50s, 80s, RM1, RM2, RM5, RM10 and RM20). However, the replacement of old (fruit) high value definitives with the new (bird) high value definitives was not done in a proper manner. Instead, some of the old (fruit) and some of the new (bird) high value definitives were simultaneously used side by side. So, it creates a big mess. Maybe the denominations of the "high" value bird definitives are not high enough that the fruit high value definitives have to take the role of "high"..... hehe

Anyway, the original bird "high" value definitives were printed in sheet-of-20. Eventhough the denominations of these bird definitives are not high enough, it still demands a good sum for collectors to buy a sheet set (eight sheet-of-20s; face value RM203). Therefore, many collectors did not buy sheet set when the stamps were released. Now, the sheet set for these bird definitives is quite hard to find. These high value bird definitive sheets do look beautiful, don't they?




Monday 23 May 2011

I Will Let Go All But This

First day covers (FDCs) gave a good foundation to strengthen my interest in stamp collecting during my early philatelic life. I still remember how difficult it was for me to collect Malaysia stamps and FDCs whenever there was a new stamp issue by Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos (now known as Pos Malaysia). This was mainly due to the financial situation of my family when I was young. At that time if I had enough money for just a set of mint stamps or a FDC (not for both), I would just buy a FDC without giving a second thought. However, my passion on FDCs has faded now.... it has died naturally and slowly at the bottom of my heart...... I would let go all my FDCs in my collection, I would not have a heart feeling for them.... but, there is one FDC in my keeping that I shall keep until I die. It is the 1957 Merdeka FDC (see picture below).... this FDC was given to me by my father 20 years ago. This FDC is very special because my father made this FDC himself at the Sg Siput Post Office on August 31, 1957. My father is not a stamp collector, and he made this FDC because it was a special day for Malaysia. He sent this FDC to his home town in Tanah Hitam from Sg Siput Post Office. My father was a primary school teacher for a school in Sg Siput (the school now has over 100 years of history), and at the time his salary was just RM150 per month! Of course, at the time he had not yet met my mother... so RM150 was not too bad for himself...




Malaysia Stamp Sheets

These stamps were issued in 2002....




Sunday 22 May 2011

Malaysia Stamp Sheets

Malaysia stamps issued in 2001....



Kelantan Stamps

Wow... these are special Kelantan stamps with serial number 000000....


Kelantan Stamps

What a beautiful set of early Kelantan stamps....

1911-1928
ISC Catalogue number: 1-26


Saturday 21 May 2011

A Returned Cover from Ireland





A Nice Cover from Malaysia





Slogan Postmark - Variety

I did not realise until yesterday that the slogan postmark on Organ Donation from Shah Alam Mail Centre has variation. The variation is on the website address in the slogan postmark - one type is without underline on the website address, and the other one is with underline on the website address. It looks like the one with underline is a newer one. Both the postmarks with underline and without underline on the website were from the cancellation machine 01. Currently, the cancellation machine 01 from Shah Alam Mail Centre carries slogan postmark of 1-Malaysia, and it looks like the Organ Donation slogan postmark has been phased out.


website address without underline


website address with underline


Wednesday 18 May 2011

Bits and Pieces

Some visitors to my blog mentioned that I have not been frequently updating my blog. I have to agree with them that I really did not do it more frequently as before. I should blame it on my hectic work lately, shouldn't I? Or my fanaticism on stamps has been much reduced. Might this be indicating that I am quiting stamp collecting? I don't have an absolute answer myself, honestly.

Another reason for my slow updating in my blog was that I was so busy dealing with a customer buying many of my FDCs and stamp sheets. Actually, I sold quite a substantial number of my Malaysia FDCs in the last 2-3 months to a few customers, maybe in a number of 400-500 FDCs. I was crazy about FDCs during the early stage of my philatelic life. However, my love of FDCs has faded since the last 2-3 years. I think I have even developed a sense of "hatred" on FDCs since early of this year. I told myself that I need to find new homes for these FDCs by selling them to other collectors who would love them more than I do. At this stage, I have found new homes for the 400-500 FDCs, and I am still finding more new homes for the rest of my FDCs....