Flora & Fauna 2007 Definitives from SingPost

I've recently obtained the collector's sheet for the 6th June 2007 'Flora & Fauna' definitives. Here's a picture of the definitive set.

The values of the stamps are: Flowers: 1st Local, 2nd Local,
Birds: 5 cents, 20 cents, 30 cents, 45 cents, 50 cents, 55 cents, 65 cents, 80 cents,
Animals (civet cat, monkey, pangolin, and squirrel): $1.10, $2, $5 and $10.

The entire set cost over $20, which is primarily because of the $10 stamp inside the definitive set. I used to not buy such sets because the $10 stamp was considered 'more expensive', and end up years later I have to auction for these stamps when I get older. Here's a photo of one of the other definitive sets, some of which I bought from online auctions (i.e. the definitive set concerning tourism).

History of the Postal Codes in Singapore

With advancement of the postal system and increase in postal addresses, Singapore had changed the postal system over the years. The postal code system is critical for fast sorting of mails, which is why during festivities, the postal operator will often remind people to put the correct postal codes, e.g. a reminder in the form of postal cancellation "Use the Correct Postal Code".

Back in 1950, Singapore only used a 2 digit postal codes to denote the 28 postal districts. This remained until 1979, when a 4 digits postal code system was introduced. The postal districts remained, with the 2 digits of the postal districts forming the first part of the 4 digits system, and the other half (i.e. remaining 2 digits) denoted the new postal sectors. As a result of the postal districts system, many properties in Singapore continued to be characterised by their original postal districts, and some districts obviously fetched a higher price compared to others. An example to illustrate this change: a housing with a previous district code of 09 could have a postal code of 0928 after the changed, i.e. the housing is located within postal sector 28. Housing in district 9 can fetch a very good price!

In September 1995, the 4 digits system was deemed as inefficient to allow for faster sorting of mails and packets. Thus a 6 digits system was introduced. The postal district part was dropped, and the postal sector part remained to form the first half of the 6 digits system. Using the previous example, the new postal code could be 280112. A '0' was added to the postal sector in cases of public housing. In cases when the building is commercial or industrial, another number would replace the '0'. For example, Ngee Ann City in Singapore has a postal code of 238872, a '8' instead of a '0'.

In cases of public housing (i.e. HDB flats), the last 3 digits are typically the housing block number. So if you lived in blk 112, then number 112 would form the last 3 digits under the new postal system. The current system seems alright to cope with the new demand of postal letters sorting. Looking at the years difference between past changes (1950 - 1979 = 29 years & 1979 - 1995 = 16 years) , and it has been 13 years since the last change, I do wonder how long can the system cope before we need to enlarge it to a 8 digits system.

Korean Stamps & Online Games

Firstly, my apologies for the content of this post since this post has nothing to do with Singapore related stamps.

Nonetheless I find these stamps interesting personally because of their theme: Online Games. These stamps are from S. Korea, a country well known for their online games industry, and featured online games of Korean origins like Maplestory and Ragnarok Online. It is quite remarkable how online games have now find a place among philately, together with other themes like Olympics and heritage related events. Perhaps this is an interesting way of getting young Koreans to cultivate an interest in stamp collecting.

Well, this also shows the maturity of a growing industry, when these online games could get featured in this 2006 Korean Stamp Pack.

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.

Straits Settlement Stamps Collection - Part 2

Here's the other batch of my Straits Settlement stamps. I cut the picture from the original photo, and thus these pictures suffered from the same mis-alignment in the angle sense, with a bit of blur image effect. There are other Straits Settlement stamps, and once I captured them properly (in photo) I'll put them up.

The four cents stamp below is actually a mint, but due to an accident I washed it (regrettably).

Related Posts:
- Straits Settlement Stamps Collection - Part 1

Singapore Stamps with Colour Alignment Errors

I used to buy stamps online via Yahoo! Auctions, and made online friends with the sellers. One such seller is Zeetl. She is a keen stamps collector / seller, and often bought packages (or kilowares) of stamps both locally and from overseas. These kilowares would then be 'processed', i.e. soak and dry before Zeetl put them up for auction.

Today she told me that she found stamps with mis-alignments in the printing colours, and here's a picture of the stamps. Click for a larger view. I guess she will be keeping these stamps instead of selling them.

While the bottom right stamp is obvious (spot the 'Singapore' name mis-alignment?), the rest of the errors could be harder to spot. Both stamps on the left have some 'blur' lines caused by the colour mis-alignment. I think it might be easier to spot the errors with normal versions side by side.

P.S. Earlier I mentioned the painted postboxes that could be found around the island, and recently these painted boxes were replaced with the usual metal / white painted versions. I wonder if there will be another painted postbox competition coming?

Visit to the Singapore Philatelic Museum - Part 2

We spent quite some time on the ground floor before moving up to the Rat's Tale gallery located on the second floor. SPM has done a fair amount of work in decorating the place in a 'Rat's theme, and you can see these pictures of rats everywhere, including on the floor and walls. It should be fun to the kids (and adults) who visit the museum.

Before we moved to the Rat's Tale gallery, we visited the permanent gallery located on the second floor, where the stories about Singapore's early trades (e.g. wooden barrel making) were displayed.

We also visited the gallery with displays of early Straits Settlement stamps and envelopes. There is auite a fair bit of philatelic history being displayed in the gallery. There is even this mail chute, which is interesting to me from a philatelic perspective. Mail chutes were used by employees located at the upper floors of a building to drop their letters straight into the postbox below for collection by postmen. Wonder if people used to drop parcels straight into the post chute / box?

Ok, now let's see pictures of the Rat's Tale display. Earlier this year SingPost just released the holographic Rat stamps, and here at the gallery we see many other interesting versions of rat stamps as well. There is even a quiz about the different famous rats.

Rats are interesting as rat is the first animal in the eastern / Chinese zodiac. So there is some explanation of the zodiac myth involved, and how the rat irritated the cat because of their race to be among the animals included for zodiac.

The second floor also has another gallery of Vietnam stamps. Well I figured that there is great interest in collecting the Indo-Chine series of stamps for some collectors, although I actually didn't have that many Indon-Chine stamps. Overall the SPM visit is enjoyable, and well worth the money / time spent for a leisure weekend visit.

Related article:
- Visit to the Singapore Philatelic Museum - Part 1