The New Currency issue was released on 16 July 2012. Pos Malaysia proposed at the
same time that the miniature sheetlets (face value RM30) to be printed in format
of uncut sheetlet (sold at a premium price) and released soon. Many collectors were
anticipating the appearance of this uncut sheetlet from the onset However, Pos Malaysia only announced the sale of this uncut sheetlet by the end of March 2013 through Standing Order Account (SODA). The uncut sheetlet is priced at RM100. The deadline for ordering this uncut sheetlet (through SODA) is on 30 April 2013, meaning that basically collectors will only get the uncut sheetlet after the ordering deadline. So, it looks like there is no official issuing date for this uncut sheetlet.
Honestly, I am delighted to see finally the uncut sheetlet comes into light, and collectors (of course including stamp dealers, investors and speculators) have another philatelic material to choose. I personally would like to see more of this type of philatelic material comes out from Pos Malaysia. I am pretty sure some
collectors/dealers/investors/speculators just like uncut sheetlets very much. These
collectors/dealers/investors/speculators are happy with uncut sheetlets, and Pos Malaysia makes them happy (more revenue for Pos Malaysia). If one does not like uncut sheetlet, then one may not need to buy it (nobody puts a gun on one's head asking one to buy it). I personally think that one should not be selfish preventing Pos Malaysia from issuing it and collectors from buying it.
Some collectors feel that RM100 is a bit too much considering the face
value of the uncut sheetlet is only RM30 (6x RM5). Many collectors tend to compare the
face value and the selling/issuing price for this uncut sheetlet. Well, I feel that the
face value is not really an important point here. I am not quite sure if many collectors (I am saying majority, not just a handful of collectors) would use the uncut sheetlet (cut out the RM5 stamps from the sheetlet) for postage purpose - RM5-stamp is rarely used stamp for postage. If collectors really think that face value is so important, then next time Pos Malaysia may just need to change the denomination of uncut sheets so that the face value is tally with the selling price - collectors happy; Pos Malaysia happy....
Another question appearing in many collectors' (I would say more to investors/speculators/dealers) mind is the printing quantity of this uncut sheetlet. Well, I don't know what is the printing quantity (only Pos Malaysia knows), but anyone with common sense would know that the printing quantity of this uncut sheetlet would be "limited". With that of selling price, I definitely would not expect Pos Malaysia to print this uncut sheet with normal quantity (20-30k) as those of miniature sheets. If Pos Malaysia really printed 20-30k copies, then I would incline to believe that many of these copies would remain unsold, and that Pos Malaysia one day could use them for wallpaper (as that of the 1995 Stamp Week miniature sheet). Once Pos Malaysia uses them for wallpaper, then the quantity would be reduced. By then, collectors/dealers/speculators/investors would be happy. :)
