Malaysian Stamp Museum

Friday, June 18, 2010

Stamp Museum is one of the state's oldest museum after independence and was once occupied by Westerhout family for 300 years until 1930. The museum showcases not only stamp collections, but also the history of stamps, envelopes, letterheads, postmen’s uniforms during the early 1950’s, 1970’s and 1990’s, unreleased stamps, erroneous stamps, specific themed stamps and many more that you have yet to see.

This is a black and white postcard of Kuching, Sarawak , Malaysia . It shows a beautiful view of The Museum. This postcard was published by G.R. Lambert & Co. Ltd. This postcard was sent to Holland in 1909. So it is one HUNDRED years OLD . The red 3 cent Straits Settlements stamp is still attached on the backside. However slight creases on top left corner it does not affect the picture (see scan) and it is still a great collectable. Condition: good. This postcard should be in every Borneo , Sarawak or Malaysian collection. Buyer pays $ 3.00 for handling and worldwide shipping. Buyer of multiple items can save on shipping. Buyer must make his payment within 14 days. Take a look in my eBay store to make your Borneo , Malaysian or Asian collection complete.

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Singapore Philatelic Museum

Monday, June 7, 2010


The Singapore Philatelic Museum (Chinese: 新加坡集邮博物馆) is a museum about the postal history of Singapore and its stamps. The museum, located at 23-B Coleman Street in Singapore, was formerly part of the Anglo-Chinese School, completed in 1906.
In the 1970s, the building became the Methodist Book Room until it was restored to become the present museum.


Singapore Philatelic Museum opened on 19 August 1995 to promote interest in and the appreciation of Singapore's history and heritage in philately. Besides the permanent galleries, the theme galleries offer a host of changing exhibitions throughout the year. These include displays from the private collections of renowned philatelists, travelling exhibitions from overseas and themed exhibitions to commemorate new stamp issues. The museum has a stamp shop, and is popular with stamp collectors.

There are files where visitors can inspect all of the Republic of Singapore stamps issued. Also on exhibit is a German forgery of a British postage stamp printed uring World War II which intentionally has a printing error which mocks King George VI.

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Bangkok Philatelic Museum

Tuesday, June 1, 2010


(1)40 years of The 5th Reign 1908, (2)Solot, The First Thai Stamp 1883


The History of Thai Postage Stamps

Philatelic Museum Bangkok records the Thai stamp and postal
history from the mid 1800s – the present day, with stamps
honoring the reigning monarch of the day and marking
significant events in Thai history.

The museum was first established in 1947 when the postal
services were under the Post and Telegraph Department. After
reorganization of the civil service and several relocations,
the Philatelic Museum, currently under Thailand Post Company
Ltd, finally found its permanent home in Sam Sen Nai Post
Office next to the Saphan Kwai skytrain station on 15 December
2004.

The Thai postal history – the early days

Stamps often tell the story of the history and culture of a
society. The Thai stamps in the Philatelic Museum Bangkok have
their stories to tell too.

Our story begins in the reign of King Rama IV (1851 – 1868). In
those days, before the existence of a postal service in
Thailand, people sent letters through messengers or friends who
were traveling within or out of the country.


With the signing of the Bowring Treaty in 1855, Thailand opened
up for foreign trade. The presence of foreign businesses and
consulates in Bangkok necessitated a postal service. This was
setup in 1867 by the British Postal Service and run by the
British consulate in Bangkok purely for communications between
consulates.

As Thailand had no stamps of her own then, she used stamps of
British India which were also used in the Straits Settlements,
Malacca, Penang and Singapore. Stamps for use in Bangkok were
marked with a capital "B". The mail was routed through
Singapore and had a Singapore postmark.

In 1875, during the reign of King Rama V (1868 – 1910), Prince
Bhanurangsri Sawangwongse, younger brother of the king,
published a newspaper "Court" for royalty and high officials. A
local stamp was affixed for delivery services. This laid the
groundwork for the Thai postal service in the future.

Philatelic Museum - the advent of the postal service

In 1880 some members of the government felt a pressing need for
a postal service for the general public and petitioned King
Rama V. The king agreed. Fittingly Prince Bhanurangsri was
tasked to do this and was appointed the first Director General
of the Post Department. The first post office was built in
Charoen Krung Road by the Chao Phraya River near the mouth of
the Ong-Ang canal.


Thai stamp history - the first stamp issue

With the establishment of the domestic postal service, Thailand
issued her first postage stamp on 4 August 1883; 43 years after
"Penny Black" the world's first prepaid adhesive postage stamps
appeared in England.

The first set of stamps had the portrait of King Rama V, was
designed by William Ridgeway and printed by the Waterlow
Printing Company of England. The stamps bore no country name
and were only for domestic use. The Thais had their own
nickname for these stamps, "Solot", after the price of the
stamp in the old currency.

Originally stamp denominations were in solot, att, sio, salung,
the old Thai currency units. When the currency was changed to
baht and satang, new stamps were issued.

On 1 July 1885, Thailand joined the Universal Postal Union,
which coordinates the international postal system.

In line with international convention, the country name and
price in Arabic and Thai numerals were printed on the Thai
stamps.


Subsequent commemorative issues in the Philatelic Museum

On 11 November 1908, Thailand celebrated the 40th anniversary
of the reign of King Rama V, the longest reigning Thai monarch
then, with a new set of postage stamps.

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