{Underneath the Stars.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

5:48 PM

24th November 2008 [Monday] 10:15pm

Hello readers. If you've started a small stamp collection, I hope the your stamps are growing steadily in numbers. Now that you have a small collection of stamps, or for those who are already veteran stamp collectors, you might wish to look into this neat little "tool" that my mother created for me. Basically, it makes slotting stamps into the stamp albums so much less of a "chore". Not only does it prevent you from damaging the teeth edges (perforations) of the stamps, it will also dramatically reduce the amount of damage done to the stamp album.

Ok, this week I'll be posting about rare and unique stamps.

I'll start off by talking about rare and unique stamps. People have different definitions when it comes to what really is "rare" and what is "unique". Since it is subjective, then i shall not rank the stamps according to rarity. Rather, I would simply like to show you which are the stamps that i feel are unique.

Firstly, it is this Singapore stamp that is dated June 3, 1960. (in Figure 1)

Figure 1

National Day Singapore June 3, 1960 (4 cents)

It is before World War II! I'm amazed that this little stamp could survive the harsh days of japanese occupation and come into my collections. I can't imagine how much rampage, massacre and ravages its been through. Same goes for these stamps which are dated 1961 and 1962, June 3. (in Figure 2a,b,c,d)

Figure 2a

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (4 Cents)

Figure 2b

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (10 Cents)

Figure 2c

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1962 (4 Cents)

Figure 2d

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (10 Cents)

They're all printed with the words "National Day". Thus from these stamps we can learn that before WWII, Singapore's National Day was probably on June 3, instead of August 9th.

Figure 1

Next, it is also Singapore stamps. Or rather, Singapore cum Malaysia stamps. As can be seen on the stamp, it has a Queen's figure head printed on it. Thus we can conclude, even without a date printed on the stamp, that the date of print was probably before World War II, when Singapore was still under British rule. The most important specialty about these stamps, is that instead of one country Singapore/Malaysia, it has both Singapore and Malaya(Malaysia was known by this name in the past) printed on it. (Figures 3a,b,c,d,e)

Figure 3a

Singapore Malaya (4 Cents)

Figure 3b

Singapore Malaya (2 Cents)

Figure 3c

Singapore Malaya (5 Cents)

Figure 3d

Singapore Malaya (10 Cents)

Figure 3e

Singapore Malaya (20 Cents)

Another huge set of unique stamps to look at would be the British stamps. They are the only stamps without the country's name printed on it. Instead, it uses the Queen's Figure Head to symbolize that the stamp is from UK.

Finally, here's my favourite stamp. It is a stamp from Thailand and features a The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997. It is special because it is by far the longest stamp (in length) that i have. I had to draw lots (upturned envelopes) at that time because my younger brother was collecting stamps too and my father had to maintain fairness. So he shuffled the envelopes and turned the back-up, only with a hint that one of them is special. (As seen in Figure 4a,b)

Figure 4a

Measurement of The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997

The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997
In Figure 5, I made a little comparison using the stamps as shown, to illustrate the difference in length.
Figure 5
Comparison of The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997 with standard local address Singapore stamps

That is all for now. Do please comment and please also say whether you feel that i have or have not done justice to the words "rare" or "unique". Thank you.

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Friday, November 21, 2008

7:58 PM

22nd November 2008 [Saturday] 12pm

I'll keep this post short and cut to the chase. (Too much assignments to post more than twice a week in high-quantity posts).

Ok as promised, i'm going to describe how i sort my stamps. I will provide images as support at a later time.

Basically, I have several stamp albums, 4 to be exact. Of which the smallest album is empty. For it was originally meant for Singapore stamps, but my collection of Singapore stamps grew so huge that they no longer fit into the tiny stamp album, so i shifted them to a larger album.

Firstly, I sort my stamps based on countries; Singapore stamps take up several pages, then Canada stamps another few pages, Australia stamps yet another few, so on and so forth. After which, taking Singapore stamps as an example : I'd sort them into groups based on themes. Most of the singapore stamps are based on what was the latest happening at that time. For example, there's this group of stamps that show the various places of interest in Singapore. Also, there'd be horoscope based stamps, as well as festival based stamps. Of course not forgetting stamps promoting racial harmony. The racial harmony stamps are one of the best to collect because you'd always have four different colours of stamps that, when placed side by side, either form a bigger whole picture, or a group of complementing colours that appeal to the eyes.

As much as possible, place similar stamps in close proximity to each other so that when exchanges are carried out, you'll be able to locate your stamps with ease and save crucial time for more exchanges. For example, put the festival themed stamps on one page while the racial-themed stamps on another.

Thats all for now. Do check back for the next update on unique and rare stamps that I have collected. (Or at least I feel they're unique and rare). I'm off to exercise.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

6:33 AM

18th November 2008 [Tuesday] 10:35pm

Ever since the early days, man has found a need to communicate with one another. The first communications came in the form of verbal exchanges and non-verbal interactions. Then with the widespread of trade, came the need to communicate with people in the distance. Pidgeons were utilized to send messages to destinations far far.......

Well, I guess I should cut to the chase. Afterall this blog is about stamps.

A basic introdution about stamps instead:

It was widely believed that the first postage stamp was the "Penny Black" and featured the young Queen Victoria as seen in Figure Alpha.

*Figure Alpha*

Image taken from:
Primary source :http://www.uno.edu/~asoble/main.htm
Linking source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Penny_black.jpg
~~

It was introduced in United Kingdom of Great Britain on 1st May 1840. It was a part of the postal reforms where postage fee was to be paid by the sender of documents instead of the receipient. The "Penny Black" did not have perforations then as that refinement was only introduced in the later issues.

Beginning:

Now, for any stamp collectors or the stamp collector wannabes, there are basically a few items that are necessary - the stamps, the stamp album, as well as a desire to collect as many different types of stamps as possible.

It is very easy to begin collecting stamps. Firstly, go to the nearest bookstore to obtain a small-sized stamp album, with the cover area to be approximately that of an A5 paper, as can be seen in figures 1a,b and c.

*Figure 1a *

*Figure 1b*

*Figure 1c *

This is how it looks like inside the album.

* Figure 2a *

*Figure 2b *

I guess you would want to watch your stamp album fill up as quickly as you can, because the longer time it is to fill up an album, the higher the likelihood of losing interest, however, the satisfaction derived from the completion is comparatively higher too.

Next, get the stamps.

There are many ways to obatin stamps. Kindly request that your parents, relatives and friends who are receiving letters and documents via snail-mail/postage to contribute the stamps on the envelopes to you. Otherwise, you could also purchase a set of stamps from the bookstore. This might spoil the fun, but essentially, the whole idea is to get the collection started.

Note: For some countries, the residents are able to obtain stamps from the philatelic museums that are usually located near the city centre. In that case, you might have a chance to booster-start your collection by obtaining a more unique set of stamps and uncommon stamp albums. In some cases, there might even be starter kits on sale for budding stamp collectors. Isn't it great?

This picture shows the plastic bag of Singapore's Philatelic Museum which you will obtain when you make a purchase there.

*Figure 3*

Once you have obtained the stamps and the stamp album, the next step is to prepare the stamps for insertion into the album. At this juncture, you might want to think of how you would like to organize your stamp album. You might want to sort the stamps according to various factors:

- Shape : i.e. Square-shaped ones take up the first 6 pages, triangular ones the next 5 pages etc.
- Value: i.e. Stamps with 10cents value take up first 10 pages, 20 cents the next 4 pages etc.
- Main colours: i.e. Stamps that are mainly blue in colour take up n-pages, while the ones mainly green in colour take up (n+2)-pages. (where n is a positive integer)

There are other methods like sorting according to themes : plants, animals, places of interest or festivals etc.

*Figure 4a *

As seen in Figure 4a, the animal-themed stamps are placed near the top of the page,
(Zoomed in focus as in Figure 4ai) whereas the transportation-themed stamps are grouped near the bottom of the page. (Zoomed in focus in Figure 4aii)

*Figure 4ai *

*Figure 4aii *

However, the most common way is to sort according to each stamp's country of origin.

Note: You might also wish to leave some spaces in between each group's allocation to allow space for future additions into your collection, as there is a high possibility that your 3rd uncle's friend's daughter's friend's parents' contribution of a very rare and unique stamp could fall into one of the categories that you've previously defined. I'm quite certain you wouldn't want to leave a special stamp out of your album, am I right?

That concludes my first post for this week of 17th - 23rd November 2008.
Here is a recommended site for more information on stamps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp

YET, it hasn't ended....

~~~~

In another post later this week, I will describe in as much detail as i can, how I arrange and sort my stamp collection, with the help of images. I hope that it will assist any new stamp collectors in generating ideas for sorting their own stamps, or bring about new ideas for existing stamp collectors.

{Disclaimer: For this post, other than *Figure Alpha*, the other images were taken using my mobile phone. I am not the creator of any items or objects featured in the images, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the stamp production factories for producing such wonderful stamps. I would also like to thank any other contributors who have directly or indirectly contributed to the completion of the items featured in the images. I would also like to thank wikipedia and its authors for providing me with research materials for the background of postage stamps and other valuable information.}

(In addition- Apologies to all visitors for the poor quality in the images. I do not have good photography skills.)

16th November 2008 [Sunday] 4:28pm

Welcome to my blog. My blog will be about the various hobbies that are present in the society or in the world at the moment.

However for a start, it will basically focus on item collection as a hobby. I hope to be able to maintain this blog for as long as there are hobbies in the society/world. Although this blog was created mainly for the purpose of completing a school assignment, but to all visitors I have only this to say -

"You will not leave this blog empty handed".

By that, what I mean is, I hope that everytime you navigate away from my blog, you leave with new insights and with better understanding of the hobbies that I will be blogging about. I will do my best to ensure that the quality of the blog posts are not compromised.

This is a simple schedule of my blog posts.

[edit- 25th November 2008] I have removed my schedule because i just received inspiration from my dad. Blog is not about writing a thesis, about having a specific schedule. Blogging is about newness, about interesting things, about surprises and excitement. So i've decided not to follow set schedule.

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