Year of the Ox - Stamps & Hongbao Packets

SingPost is welcoming the Year of the Ox with their set of OX-picious Zodiac Stamp (auspicious!) with 2 x free hongbao packets. Similar to the previous Rat stamp release, there is a 'double' image of the other two immediate Chinese Zodiac signs in the Ox stamps, one of the Rat (the animal before the Ox) and one of the Tiger (the animal after the Ox). Take a look at the news release from SingPost about this issue, which also contains other details like prices, denominations of the stamps ...etc.

Here's a picture of the stamps and the hongbaos. I think the hongbaos giveaway is a smart idea of promoting the stamps.

2008 Collection of Singapore Stamps

Recently I bought the 2008 Collection of Singapore Stamps for $59.90 from the post office. There are a number of interesting releases this year, including the Formula One Grand Prix, as well as the Peranakan collection, which made this purchase worthwhile. Here's a picture of the 2008 collection.

It is a dilemma at times, when a collector decides to buy the annual release and yet each individual presentation pack is also a separate worthwhile purchase, thus resulting in many copies of the same stamps. Nonetheless, I have to be selective in the stamps purchases due to my space constraints.

Interested in the album? If so, you better buy it before the price of the stamp album inflate next year, which typically happens when we cross over to the new year.

When Sci-Fi meets Stamps Collectors

I was around Funan a few days ago and decided to pop by the Philatelic Museum.

That was when I saw this R2D2 Mail Box. Guess this would please those who are both stamp collectors as well as Sci-Fi fans.

By the way, the Singapore 2008 Stamps Collection 2008 is out for sale.

Stamps - Postal Services Through The Years

I was at the SingPost Paya Lebar centre and saw this display of one of the latest stamp issues - Singapore Postal Services Through The Years. It is interesting to see the development of these postal services thru depiction on postal objects (i.e. stamps); there is an added reinforcing element of history progression somehow.

The monotone with oval frame design gives the whole set a nostalgic feel linking back to stamps of the straits settlement era. It is also quite encouraging to see postmen being the centre objects (together with postboxes) of these stamps. Afterall, these postmen had put in hard work to deliver our letters everyday, and some recognition is due.

If you want to purchase this set, you could do so via the SingPost online portal.

WSC 2004, Hans C. Andersen & NUS Stamps Sheets

Personally I prefer to collect used stamps instead of unused stamps, for the simple reason that the postmarks and cancellations on the used stamps add to the fun of stamp collecting.

There are times when I do collect unused stamps, and that includes presentation packs as well as stamp sheets. Presentation packs, like used stamps, also add to the fun of stamp collecting because there are more information presented in the package. For the same reason, miniature sheets are also interesting. For large stamp sheets, the interesting information is the details of the printer..etc etc.

To illustrate the point, here's three pictures of NUS stamp sheet, World Stamp Competition 2004 sheet, and the Hans C Andersen miniature. For the NUS sheet, the details of the printer, the 5 colour proof dots..etc could be found by the side of the sheet.

For the WSC 2004 sheet, the background of the sheet featured the stamps from the mid-60s, superimposed with a merlion picture at the upper right.

For Hans C Andersen, the background has the same theme as the 4 stamps, with wordings that describe the occasion (i.e. 200th Anniversary Celebration), and that adds to the fun when one looks at these stamps.

All in all, stamps collecting is fun, not just because we are hoarding little piles of tiny papers, but because of the history and culture embedded in these papers that describe the world we lived in, often times stretching our imagination to times before our birth. Isn't that fun enough?

Some Singapore Frama Stamps

Not sure if any of you still remember that SingPost used to issue dinosaurs theme frama stamps? I was sorting through some stamps and found two of them. I am sure there are more than just these 2 in the set of frama. Afternote: I replaced the original 2 pictures with a clearer one.

SingPost has issued a number of frama stamps over the years. We used to have frama stamps with tree designs that we can 'buy' from POSB ATM machines. Pity I didn't keep any of these sheets. There were also frama stamps with just 3 Merlion heads or the word 'Singapore' repeatedly printed on them.

The more common ones recently are the rectangular frama stamps with Singapore skyline or the Merlion designs.

The two framas below have the codes of S258 and S275. I've never figured out what exactly do these codes represent. Quite frankly, there is not much philately literature on Singapore frama stamps (or at least I couldn't find them). I used to dislike frama stamps simply because you cannot wash them off the envelopes. Keeping them together with the envelope seems to be the only option.

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.