myStampJourney

Historically, William Burgess Pryer founded 'Elopura' (modern day Sandakan) in 1879. When Kampung German, a European settlement established by William Clarke Cowie was razed to the ground from an accidental fire, Pryer took action. However, instead of rebuilding Kampung German, Pryer moved it closer to the harbour and renamed the settlement as Elopura. Elopura means 'beautiful city' (Elok is Malay for fine; pura is Sanskrit for city).  Although today it is mostly referred to as Sandakan alone, modern day Elopura retained its existence in name as a state constituency of the Sandakan parliamentary constituency.  A very recent acquisition of this interesting registered cover addressed to the Ministry of Education in Kuala Lumpur.  What makes it interesting is the usage of the ELOPURA SANDAKAN/ SABAH cancellation.  The registered label also displays "ELOPURA/ SANDAKAN" handstamp in blue.  On the back of the cover, there is a perfect strike of the Elopura cancel on

There aren't many varieties in this series but the few that were listed truly are gems when found. A short visit to Amcorp Mall today yielded an unexpected find - a plate variety of the 30c stamp. The 30c stamp was printed with a 200 screen (I am not sure of what the 'unit'), and another plate, which is the variety, was printed with a 250 screen giving it a supposedly finer look as the dots were smaller.  250 screen (Left); 200 screen (right) Stanley Gibbons describe that in the coarse 200 screen, dots can be seen as regular patterns while in the finer 250 screen, dots are hardly seen. The white lines surrounding '30 CENTS' were also less distinct in the 250 screen.  200 screen, with visible dots. 250 screen; dots are hardly visible Some additional observational notes: a. QEII portrait is seemingly sharper in 200-screen than the smooth-appearing one in the 250-screen plate. b. 'SULUK CRAFT/ LAHAD DATU' inscription in the 250-screen appears thicker than in th

Philatelic Society Malaysia (PSM) organized a two-day stamp fair on the 9th and 10th of December in conjunction with Pos Malaysia's Stamp Week. To be honest, it has been quite a while since local collectors had any chance of attending a stamp fair as it was the first ever program organized this year.  On day 1. Upon entering the venue hall, immediately I was greeted with a scary sight as all dealers' tables were already filled with patrons selecting picks of the day.  Quickly, I went to Mr. Eric's table for loose stamps with interesting postmarks - my only intention for every stamp fair. Bought a few and moved to Mr. Richard Thio's table. He had much more duplicates. Although it was priced at SGD, his conversion rates are SGD1 = MYR2.  Next was Pos Malaysia's booth as I realized the stamps were selling like hot cakes.  The stamp issue on conjunction with Stamp Week 2023. Lakes in Malaysia. Three denominations: 50sen, 60sen, and RM1.30 Everyone was already busy makin

In one of my earlier posts, I wrote on the 20 CENTS overprint varieties on the 1909 North Borneo 18c stamp that features the banteng.  One with a stamp catalogue that lists North Borneo would be surprised to find that among all the low value denominations, why would this specific 18c stamp commands such a high catalogue value?  Short answer : No one uses it.  Or rather, there was no use of it. The 18c denomination was withdrawn in the very same month that it was issued as there were no postal requirements of it.  "It is believed that 50,000 18c stamps were printed and of these 5,000 had been sold, 5,000 were retained at Sandakan, and 40,000 were returned to London" [1]. This explain the scarcity of the 18c stamp.  On the catalogue value of the 18c stamp, one could very clearly that the difference is day and night. Here are some snippets,  SG Simplified, 2014 Scott, 2017 ISC, 2018 Of course, catalogue values are just numbers and do not necessarily reflect on current market pri

At the end of World War II, the victors took administrative control over Germany after the fall of the Third Reich. The eastern zone of Germany under Soviet rule was then known as SBZ, which stood for Sowjetische Besatzungszone. Naturally, stamps to be used within this zone were overprinted.  MiNr. 182-197, overprinted 'SOWJETISCHE BESATZUNGS ZONE'. MiNr. 943-958, without the overprint These stamps remain a good starting point for collectors and enthusiasts if they wish to set foot into collecting stamps in the area of post-war occupation. Mint sets come relatively cheap, at times even cheaper than its used counterparts.  I always have a thing for stamps printed in smaller formats, 20mm x 25mm is the sweet spot to look exceptionally good in 1200dpi scans. Recently I have gone busy sorting from boxes of used stamps again, if I hadn't mention it in earlier posts. The frequency of finding these SBZ stamps is testament to how many they were printed and how easily they could be

Distinguishing between two shades of very old stamps could be challenging considering that colors may have oxidized or even bleached.  In this update, we are covering the stamps of Labuan, to be technically correct, stamps of North Borneo overprinted with 'LABUAN'. Specifically, shade varieties of the 24c stamp (1894-1896). The shade listed on ISC are Pale Mauve (ISC#61) and Dull Lilac (ISC#62).  Finding the difference is confusing since both are almost identical - that is until we involve a similar stamp but was issued on 1897, 24c Grey-Lilac (ISC#85).  Comparing with ISC#85 makes it much easier since it only exists as a shade of lilac, not very far off from dull lilac. Here are the enlarged scans for a closer look.  Pretty straightforward, right? Thank you for dropping by!