State of Singapore Stamp

It is always interesting to see Singapore stamps that were used during the pre-independence days, i.e. before 9th August 1965.

Here's one such stamp, where the 'State of Singapore' stamp (blue stamp on the right) was used together with the Johor stamp. It sort of reminded me that not too long ago this region was still a relatively messy region with its many conflicts.

Anyone knows the 'national day' of the 'State of Singapore'? That date is not 9th August, but 3rd June, i.e. when Singapore was one of the many states of the Federation of Malaya.

 

See related:

- 3 June & 9 August - Singapore's National Days on Stamp

贺 - 中国邮票 2007 (China Stamp Album 2007)

I acquired this album (贺 - 中国邮票 2007) sometime back and was tidying it together with the rest of my stamps. It struck me while I was flipping through the pages that the China album has a lot more stamps issues than Singapore mere 10+ issues per year.

It is also interesting to see that countries do go through somewhat similar path in development. The reason I said that is because from this set of Postal Saving Bank of China stamps, I see the Singapore POSB equivalent. Both saving banks started as a branch department of the postal agencies, simply because it was convenient for people to deposit saving money when they conduct their frequent visits to the post office. Given the less frequent travels to the post office, this habit died.

Given the rich cultural history of China, it is no wonder that they have more issues where artists can express their creativity. Of course, the larger population of stamp collectors properly helps a lot too.

Similarly, they have stamps with nation building theme in mind, e.g. this set of stamps commemorate their 17th National Congress. There are a lot more different stamps sets in the Chinese album but I guess a smaller number of stamps issues in Singapore's case properly also help to reduce the cost of stamps collecting, which is important to encourage the take up of stamp collecting as a hobby.

What Happens When You Post a Letter Without Stating Address

I was tidying some stamps pile and envelopes, and came across this envelope that I kept from some time ago. This is a pretty interesting envelope, and gives a good indication of what will happen when you post a letter in Singapore without stating any address.

I am guessing that the cancellation machine will still cancel the stamp, and the envelope will get stuck when the machines try to sort out where to post the letter.

Luckily in this case the envelope has the address of the sender (in this case it's the SPM!), and the letter was sent back, with a mark that says 'Return to Sender Received without address.'