Star Wars Stamps by Royal Mail - The Force is Strong!

I finally got hold of a presentation pack of Star Wars stamps by Royal Mail, thanks to a friend who order multiple copies of the pack! Online ordering is possible since a while ago, but the official date of issue is 20th October 2015. Royal Mail issues this set of collectible Star Wars stamps to commemorate the coming Star Wars movie "The Force Awakens" slated for release in Dec 2015. 

Being a Star Wars fan, this issue is of course a must have. :) Here's two shots of the presentation pack, set on top my Lego Millennium Falcon (7965) set. The pack contains 12 stamps of the different characters spanning across the different episodes, and a miniature sheet with the different space ships (including of course the Millennium Falcon, and 1 non-space ship, i.e. the AT-AT Walker). The pack also has a short summary of the Light and Dark sides of the force. The 3rd photo below is the back of the pack with the Dark side information.

Royal Mail - Star Wars with 12 characters

Royal Mail - Star Wars miniature sheet with space ships

Royal Mail - Dark side on the back of the pack

Looking at the stamps does bring back memories, and it is amazing to see how Star Wars have captured the interest, attention, and some say devotion of so many fans, spanning across nearly 4 decades. Episode 4, which is the 1st Star Wars movie, was released in 1977. Over the years there were many Star Wars stamps issued by various post authorities, and I guess this would not be the last one either (2 more movies to come).

Interested to know the background and see the printing of these stamps? Royal Mail provided a clip with interviews describing the design of these stamps, as well as another clip on the actual printing.

Now back to the stamps proper - there are secret symbols on the 12 characters! If you shine a UV light on these stamps, each character will reveal their respective symbols (Rey & Finn just show the "Star Wars" wordings I think). The symbols are made using phosphor inks, i.e. the same security feature on many stamps, except it is used to present the symbols in this case. I don't have a UV light on hand and so can't show any of these symbols on this blog post.

For those interested to grab a copy of Royal Mail's Star Wars collection, act fast before the stocks are out! The pre-sale of movie tickets for the premiere are sold out in US I think... and I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same soon for the Star Wars stamps collection. Act fast, and may the Force be with you!

SEA Games 2015 - Parade of Stamps

In 2 days time (16th June 2015) at the closing ceremony of SEA Games 2015, we will see life-sized 'stamps' on parade!

Based on the Channel NewsAsia report, Sir Stamford Raffles, Singa the Lion, Changi Airport and our athletes will be featured in a couple of stamps that are upsized into floats. I saw a few Singapore - Malaya stamps i.e. the Stamford Raffles and another 10 cents UPU stamp, but there will also be Singapore stamps from the SEA Games of 1993.

Changi Airport Stamp - Photo by SINGSOC

Look out for it during the closing ceremony parade!

Stamps for the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore is hosting the First Formula 1 Night Race, and there is even a stamp issue celebrating it!

Wow!... the issue will be released on th 26th Sep. The issue is a se-tenant strip of two $2 stamps, and there are 10 stamps per sheet. For those buying the presentation pack, it costs $5.85. The First Day cover will cost $4.90. The stamp designs featured a bright line silhouette of a race car, with the Singapore Skyline decorating the background of one stamp, and the checker flag for the other stamp.

I don't have the stamps (yet), and thus for those interested to take a look, you could visit the SingPost vpost site.

December 2008 - Yes I got the presentation pack, and here's it. Apologies for the poor resolution photo.

Universal Postal Union & Singapore

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) website, Singapore has been re-elected to be a member of the 40 members strong Postal Operations Council. This may be somewhat dry for some stamp collectors, but I feel that it forms part of our postal history and is worth a mention. The election is part of the 2008 UPU Congress recently held in Geneva.

Singapore has been a member of the UPU for the longest time, and we have some old stamps (some before independence - 1965) from back then.

For those who are interested, UPU is a specialised agency under the United Nations, formed in 1874, that deals with postal matters for the member countries of UN. The headquarters is at Berne, and here's a postcard of the place.

Singapore '95 Orchids Theme

The theme selected for the World Stamp Exhibition '95 was Orchids. A series of 5 sets of the orchids stamp and miniature sheets was launched. The orchids and background for the sheets are as follow:

• Vanda Miss Joaquim & Dendrobium - Singapore Botanic Gardens
• Dendrobium Sharifah Fatimah & Phalaenopsis Shim Beauty - Singapore Skyline
• Vanda Sumatrana & Phalaenopsis Ambabilis - architectural scene of 1920s
• Paphiopedilum victoria-regina & Dendrobium smillieae - local fruits
• Vanda Marlie Dolera & Vanda limbata - illustrated impression of Singapore Zoo

There is another variation of the 5th set with Sentosa attractions as the background. This variant has two more sub-variants, and the sub-variants have serial numbers since they are limited runs.

These stamps and minisature sheets were designed by Mr Chua Ban Har. I have one of the sets (should have another one, but it is somewhere lost in the albums).

Orchids stamps are nothing new to Singapore, since orchids is the national flower (Vanda Miss Joaquim to be exact). At the tourists attraction shops, we could find many of these flowers immortalised in resins. Since 1962, Singapore already has stamps featuring orchids (see below).

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

IOC & Singapore Stamps (2004 & 2005)

With all the fervor about coming Olympics in Beijing, I can't help but notice that Singapore stamps too have some parts to play in the IOC history.

In Prix Olympia 2004, SingPost won the award for the most original stamp issued for the Athens 2004 Olympics Summer Games (see page 2 of this document). The stamps are shown below, and there is a short write-up accompanying the stamps in the 2004 yearbook. The award was presented by the IOC to SingPost during the 2005 session.

In 2005 we have the stamps series on the 117th IOC (International Olympic Committee) itself. Personally I prefer the 2004 design to the 2005 ones. The 2005 ones look a bit commercial somehow. Well, wonder if there will be stamps design for the 2008 Olympics, and also the Youth Olympics in 2010? Should have I would think. Let's hope the designs are good.