A Nice Cover from Thailand

A cover from Thailand sent from Ratchadamnden on 23 October, 2008.

Postally Used.......... 02

I feel like showing you more nice postally used stamps........... these used stamps (below) are picked up from the group of used stamps as shown at here.

a Mali stamp cancelled with some slogan postmark
an Eritrean stamp lightly cancelled
an Oman stamp with postmark cancelled in December 1996
a very nicely cancelled Ivory Coast stamp; postmark date: 20 November, 199?.
an Ethiopian stamp; postmark date: 17 March, 19??.
a Pakistanis stamp with clear postmark date on 15 January, 1998.
an Ethiopian stamp cancelled in 1994
a stamp from Sudan cancelled with blue ink
an Eritrean stamp with postmark date on 13 May, 1995
an Estonian stamp with postmark date on 27 October, 1997.

2008 - Butterfly MS Overprint

FIAP Stamp Exhibition of year 2008 was held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 23-28 October, 2008. Pos Malaysia released an overprint miniature sheet (MS) in conjuction with the event. The MS used in the overprint is from the butterfly issue released early of this year. The logo of the exhibition was printed on the area of the stamp. Therefore, this MS overprint is a bit different from those produced in the pass few years that the logo was normally printed on the stamp boarder of the MS.

Postally Used.......... 01

A few examples of fine postally used stamps are shown below. They were just brilliantly cancelled duly by postal staff. These stamps have fulfilled their role of existence as postage on postal mail.

Cameroon 1996....... I can see the date 23 January, 1997 clearly on the postmark.
Algeria 1991....... date of postmark is 18 October, 1995.
Ivory Coast 1995....... Mushroom stamp issued in 1995. Date of postmark is 18 August, 1997. City/town: Adiake
Uganda 1997..... Date of postmark is 18 December, 1997.
A nice overprinted stamp of Ethiopia. Date of postmark is December 1994.
Stamp of Guinea issued in 1996. Date of postmark is 12 August, 1997.
A beautiful Ethiopian stamp. Date of postmark is 26 October, 1993.
A Tanzanian stamp on Airship. Date of postmark is 18 April, 1995. Town is Zanzibar.
A nice stamp from United Arab Emirates issued in 1996. Date of postmark is 18 December, 1996.
A bird stamp from Cameroon....... Date of postmark is 26 February, 1997.

Postally Used Stamps of World Wide - Part I

Believe it or not, stamp collecting could be fun and cheap. What you need to do is to ask your friends, family members, working colleagues, penpals or even strangers for stamps from their letter correspondances. I bet some of these people would not mind sparing you the used stamps (otherwise some of these letters/covers would be finding their way in bins). Well, I was a bit lucky back to 1995-1998 when I pursued my study in the UK, and I met many international students there. These peer pals were more than happy to help me in my stamp collecting. I got many stamps from "difficult/rare" countries such as Eriteria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Malawi, Republic of Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon, Sudan, Togo, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Cambodia, Colombia and many others. I was totally overwhelmed by the responses that I got from these people......... some of them even went further by asking their friends for stamps on my behalf!

These stamps are postally used stamps, and they have fulfilled the requirement for being a stamp by subjecting themselves as the postage payment on the letters they carried. They are different from CTO (Cancelled To Order) stamps. I don't fancy CTO stamps. I like nice clear postally cancelled (from letters) stamps, and this type of used stamps is particularly uncommon and more valuable.

2005 Bird Definitives 50 sen - 2008/2

The serial number for 50 sen bird defintive is now 2008/2.........

Hong Kong 2008 - Flowers

On 14 March, 2008, Hong Kong Post issued a fabulous flower stamp set - six denominations with six beautiful flower designs. I really love this marvelous stamp set.

Thailand 2001 - Bettles

This one of my favourite stamp sets of Thailand. The white/plain background is just nice for the beetle images to stand up. These beetle species are so beautiful. The stamps were issued in 2001.

Cheirotonus parryi
Mouhotia batesi
Cladognathus giraffa
Mormolyce phyllodes

A Cover from Thailand

A cover from Thailand sent at Lat Phrao on 18 October, 2008.

2008 - National Angkasawan Programme

Pos Malaysia released a set of stamps and a miniature sheet on 21 October, 2008 on title of National Angkasawan Programme. The stamps come in three designs with denominations 30 sen and 50 sen while the miniature sheet contains two stamps with denomination RM1 for each stamp. What is "Angkasawan"? If literately translated, "Angkasawan" means astronaut. So, after all, Pos Malaysia issued this set of stamps to commemorate/publicize the national astronaut programme...... not really space programme........... The issue of "space" programme of Malaysia has been controversial.......... Nevetheless, the stamp set and miniature sheet of this issue are nice, and they are good for thematic collectors on topic of space.

Singapore - Tourism

Below is a fine set of Singapore stamps issued in 1990. It is a part set of definitive stamps (high value) depicting tourism in Singapore. I like the stamps because they were printed by recess printing and photogravure. The $1 stamp shows Chinese culture; the $2 shows Malay culture; the $5 stamp shows Indian culture; and the $10 shows wetern culture.

Public Awareness

Stamps can be used as a means to deliver message to public. Many countries have carried out various campaigns on public awareness such as anti-smoking, anti-drug, road safety, energy conservation etc. In this entry, I am presenting to you three sets of stamps issued by PRC (China) and ROC (Taiwan) on this aspect. These stamps are simple and well designed. They are my favourite stamps.

1980; ROC; Energy Conservation

1980; PRC; Anti-Smoking

1991; ROC; Road Safety