Showing posts with label Postmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Postmarks. Show all posts

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Singapore's New Postal Identifier Marks

Ever since Singapore liberalised the postal market, there has been a few new market players in the local scene delivering our letters and magazines.

Thus there will now be other post marks beside SingPost's post marks. that we will see on our mails. Other than SingPost, there are now these other 4 new postal operators:
  • DHL Global Mail
  • Fuji Xerox Singapore
  • SwissPost International
  • WMG
I've seen SwissPost's post marks before but not the rest. Here's how the SwissPost's postmarks look like. I'm not sure why the returned mail address is in Switzerland though, i.e. who will return the mail over such a long distance?



Other than these marks that belong solely to a postal operator, there will also be other marks which are a 'combined mark' between two operators. For example, there is this mark for WMG & SingPost 'combined'. So the mark on the left is SingPost and the mark on the right is WMG. I guess the bold 'S' means Singapore. That is interesting because all along the post marks have always belong to just 1 operator rather than 2. Historically if more than 1 operator handles the mail (e.g. international mail), each will stamp their post mark on the envelope with the date stamp. That is why some of the older (and more valuable) letters have multiple postmarks. The fun part is that the collector could trace the route that the mail took by looking at the post marks and date stamps.



Well hopefully there will be more interesting post marks rather than these 'boxy' looking rectangles in future. For the full list of new postal operators, the details are found at this IDA website.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

'UOB' Cancellation on 1962 25cents definitive

Among the different stamps, I found this 1962 25 cents fish definitive with a cancellation of 'UOB Singapore' on it. Curiously I wonder what is this cancellation for. I understand some stamps have perforations within the bodies of the stamps, i.e. perfins with small holes in the stamps, because in the older days, stamps were a high value commodity and companies add perforations to prevent theft.



However, this 'UOB Singapore' cancellation on a 1962 definitive surely cannot be a perfins? UOB as a bank existed since the 1930s, while Singapore as a soverign country existed from August 1965. Moreover, the bank adopted the 'UOB' as its name only in 1965 (See article). So the 'UOB Singapore' cancellation on a 1962 may not make much sense, perhaps it is a 'cancellation' for other purposes? Anyone with any clue let me know ok?

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Singapore World Stamp Exhibition 1995

Other than the World Stamp Championship 2004, Singapore had also hosted the World Stamp Exhibition 1995. It was a grand event, with the then President of Singapore (Mr Ong Teng Cheong) as the Patron, and supported by Federation of International Philately and Federation of Inter-Asian Philately. International judges (aka jury) were invited, and many outstanding exhibitions (over 3,300 frames) were displayed. Exhibitions included the recorded 'by accident' use of Penny Black prior to 6 May 1840 (David Feldman) and also 'Straits Settlements" Judicial and Revenue stamps (Koh Seow Chuan).



The event was held in Suntec City from 1 to 10 Sep 1995. Other than the exhibitions, there were other interesting events for the visitors, like "Traditional Trade" demonstrations showing works of Chinese Calligrapher, Indian garland maker, and Malay Batik painter. Another interesting event was the stamp perforating demonstrations that were performed hourly. Of course, we had the usual seminars on postal history, youth philately...etc. It was a free event, and well attended by many visitors.

The stamp theme for the event was Orchids and there was a different cancellation for each day of the event. Would cover more of the Orchids theme and other event news later.



Here's the list of the datestamp cancellations, and slogan die cancellations:
  • 1 Sep 05 - Singapore '95 Day
  • 2 Sep 95 - Thematic Philately Day
  • 3 Sep 05 - Stamp Collecting Day
  • 4 Sep 05 - Singapore Post Day
  • 5 Sep 05 - Philatelic Museum Day
  • 6 Sep 05 - Olympic Day - Youth
  • 7 Sep 05 - Letter Writing Day
  • 8 Sep 05 - Awards Day
  • 9 Sep 05 - F.I.A.P. Day
  • 10 Sep 05 - F.I.P. Day

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

More recent Singapore Postmarks

Singapore postmarks have changed quite significantly since the 1970s and here's some of the more recent updates. We still have the traditional round postmarks:




Here's a round postmark, with different designs from those 'C' series:



Other than round types, we have the octagonal types as well:



There are also postmarks on 'strips' for bigger mail items:



Postmarks also contain more messages, sometimes for nation building purposes:



One of the latest innovation is the use of 2D barcodes as postmarks! Not sure why is there a need for such complex postmarks, and what data is captured inside the barcode. Hmm.


Friday, March 28, 2008

Singapore Postmarks of 1970s

I owned a copy of the "National Stamp Exhibition 1970", a national event with messages from the then Minister for Communication, and found pages of Singapore Postmarks in the booklet. It is actually not easy to find these postmarks on the Internet so I decided to take snapshots and post them here.

It is only through these postmarks that I realised that there were postal operations on some of the Singapore islands, e.g. Pulau Brani, Ubin, Tekong, Semakau, & St Johns. Wow... But there is one mark which I don't understand, what exactly is "PAQUEBOT"?? which appears under the "Mail Branch" portion (1st picture).

Afternote: Found the answer, it's the cancellation used while letters were posted on board ships. Seems to be a UPU creation from the Vienna Conference in 1891.

GPO Postmarks
G.P.O Counter: Q, C14, C17, and C18
Philatelic Bureau: Philatelic Bureau, and Philatelic Bureau 1
Mails Branch: M4, M5, Parquebot 2, and Surcharge



Sub Post Office Postmarks- Alexandra A 3, Bukit Panjang 23, Bukit Timah 21, Changi C 17, Dempsey Road A 10, Farrer Road A 10, Geylang A 14, Jalan Kayu 28, Joo Chiat A 15, Kampong Glam A 7, Kandang Kerbau A 8, Katong C 15, Keppel Harbour, Killiney Road A 6, Lim Ah Pin Road A 19, and MacPherson Road A 13.



Sub Post Office Postmarks- Maxwell Road, Nee Soon, Newton B 11, North Canal Road, Owen Road A 8, Pasir Panjang, Paya Lebar B 19, Pulau Bukom, Queen Street D 7, Queenstown A 3, Seletar B 28, Sembawang, Sepoy Lines B 2, Serangoon Rd A 12, Siglap 16, and Serangoon Garden 19.



Sub Post Office Postmarks- Simpang Bedok A 16, Airport A, Still Road A 15, Taman Jurong A 22, Taman Warna A 10, Tanglin B 10, Thomson Road 20, Tiong Bharu A 3, and Towner Road.



Postal Agencies - Ama Keng 24, Bulim Village 24, Dockyard P.A., Huat Choi (?) Village 22, Kg. Sungei Tengah 19, Nanyang University PA 22, Pepys Road 5, P. Elizabeth Est. 23, Pulau Brani 2, Pulau Ubin 17, Pulau Tekong, and Pulau Semakau.



Postal Agencies - Queensway 3, Tengah P.A., Race Course Vill 10, Sembawang H Est(?) 20, St. Johns Island, Teck Hocl 19, Toa Payoh, Yuas 22, Ulu Bedok 14, Upper Paya Lebar Road 19, Woodlands 25, Yan Kit 17, and Yio Chu Kang.




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