myStampJourney

Forgot that I had this in my album, but this North Borneo stamp had an interesting rectangular handstamp in violet that was partly on the stamp. It was no doubt 'KIMANIS' but since I could not make out what the second word was, I am inclining towards 'KIMANIS Estate'.  North Borneo 1909 4 cents scarlet, ISC144 As usual in every attempt to obtain as much information from a scan, this was processed in RetroReveal.  Upside down, 'KIMANIS E'. It looked like an 'L' but there were indeed three strokes which makes it an 'E'. If it were an 'L', perhaps it could also be narrowed to 'KIMANIS LTD' For a clearer view If you noticed, surrounding the word 'KIMANIS' is another faint rectangle around it besides the double-barred rectangle that makes the frame of the handstamp. I think this might have been imprinted on the handstamp during inking when hit hard - one could always hear how hard handstamps are struck on letters in the post of

Numerals, or better known as 'numbers in rosettes' remain one of the more extensively printed stamps throughout the German Empire, in fact it is present in such an excess that mint sheets are still commonly found.  I am in the process of sorting and scanning some of these, and thought it would be great for a short write-up. At the moment I have quite a few of 3pfg stamp that has these flaws.  This is the normal 3pfg stamp, MiNr. 338. Plate flaws exists when a specific set of stamps are printed in an amount so excessive that flaws arise through all the wear and tear throughout the printing process. Depending on the catalogue referred, only major errors are documented while minor flaws and print defects are often excluded.  In this scan, the stamp in the middle is the unflawed normal stamp. The stamp on the left (1) has a flaw where the line/dash has merged with the upper right horn ornament. Stamp on the right (2) has a minor line break. (1) Enlarged. Notice that the line has me

In exploring various unique covers, and amongst the many paquebots and ship mails, the Tin Can Mail is a good conversation starter.  Like the name suggests, mails were delivered in a tin can in Tonga.  Why? Did the Tongans have no proper postal service?  To address the latter question, yes and no. The Tonga Post Office was established in 1882, however, means to communicate with the 'outside world' was made much more challenging considering that the geographical features of the doughnut-shaped island of Niuafo'ou did not permit ships to anchor.  The creative idea of the Tin Can Mail materialized in the early 19th century, which came out of desperation for William Travers, a plantation manager, to send and receive mails abroad. With harboring ships out of the question, mails were sealed in a biscuit tin before throwing it into the shark-infested waters. Swimmers from the island would then swim out to retrieve the floating tin can, and later swim out to hand over another tin c

It has been quite a while since my last entry. Now that I have a new scanner, let's resume!  A little deeper than the very surface of stamp collecting, are knowing the different printing dies used (if any) during printing. A die can be of rubber, but in the case of postage stamps they are usually metal or softened steel with the image of what is going to appear on the stamp engraved onto it.  In the stamps of 1937-1941 (ISC 260 to ISC 280, Straits Settlements ), as well as the subsequent B.M.A (British Military Administration) overprint of 1945 (ISC 1 to 18, BMA, Straits Settlements ) one very noticeable feature is the bicolored denominations:  1937-1941 Straits Settlements KGVI Definitives, 25c - Dull purple & scarlet 30c - Dull purple & yellow-orange 40c - Scarlet & dull purple $1 - Black & red on blue paper $2 - Green & scarlet $5 - Green & red on emerald paper 1945 Straits Settlements KGVI Definitives, overprinted B.M.A MALAYA 25c - Dull purple& scar

Coming from a biomedical background, this is one of my favourite first day covers ever issued by Pos Malaysia. It was issued to commemorate 100 years of the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) featuring three noble achievements.  Miniature sheet, face value at RM2, depict the double helical structure of the DNA 30sen, depicting the filarial parasite, Brugia malayi , and rice with the label 'beri-beri'. It was very meaningful that these two elements were mentioned on the 30sen stamp because the founding of the institute revolved around the need to carry out scientific research on tropical diseases and other infectious diseases that were prominent in Malaya. Here, the IMR achieved a significant breakthrough in filariasis research by establishing an in vitro culture system for the infective stage of B. malayi , as well as B. pahangi. Studies on nutritional status in rural areas, specifically on beriberi were also conducted.  Brugia malayi and filariasis  In the early years of th

Acquired not long ago, I initially thought the only postal marking seen was the octagon obliterator. It is a wild guess but based on the shape of the second digit, it is a strong '7'.  B172 (1874-1879) was used in Singapore. Interestingly. the same number, B172 was also used in Penang (1874-1884), and in Malacca (1874-1892). However, in this case, I am sure it is a B172 Upon closer inspection, there was a faint oval double ring in violet.  As indicated by the arrows, the position of a fainter oval cancel in violet Processing the image to enhance oval cancel, it revealed something more interesting. The double ring marking is revealed. Stamp is upright. Stamp is now upside down. The words are making more sense now.  What we can extract based on this is ' CHARTERED MERCA ', which in full, I strongly believe is: CHARTERED MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA Now, what makes this more interesting are two points; firstly, period of usage since B172 are used in both Pe

See any difference between the four stamps below? Not yet? You will notice it very soon.  For years I have been fascinated by myNBstamp 's write-up on the extra chimney variety that is found in QE II definitive series so much to the extent that it was etched in my mind to look for it whenever I had the chance to. Conveniently, I was blessed with a lot of duplicates to which I found a mint and a used copy of the extra chimney variety.  Mint. Note the extra chimney, top middle. It is said that this variety occur in R1/10, the tenth piece of the first row, which, also according to myNBstamp, it may have occurred only in the first print in 1954. The used copy that I have is also dated 1954, which at this point further suggest that the hypothesis may just be right! Used, dated 1954. Normal 10c without the extra chimney for comparison. I find these varieties very interesting especially when they are on North Borneo stamps. Who knows how much more varieties actually exist considering that

A cover obtained some time ago solely due to the large single ring (diameter = 4.5cm) private handstamp featured on the cover.  This is a cover sent to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) building in Petaling Jaya. It was misspelled as 'PATELING JAYA' on the cover bearing a registered label from 'AYER TAWAR'. The handstamp, EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND/ 9 45 AM/ 19 AU 65/ REGD. The location of the registered label, however, did not correspond to the sender's address, which is odd considering that the sender had typed Kuala Lumpur as the address. Perhaps another typo? Transit of the cover was shown on the back.  Cover was flipped for easier view The back of the cover, bearing two 20c blue (ISC155 Perak) tied with a single ring AYER TAWAR/PERAK cds dated 17AUG65 with transit IPOH/PERAK (17AUG65) and arrival single ring PETALING JAYA/SELANGOR cds. The arrival postmarks, there were in fact, two of them, appeared faint with the dates indiscernible - but it would either fall o