Aung San Suu Kyi stamp of 2019 from S.TOME & PRINCIPE

New stamp featuring Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was found in online markets.  The stamp was issued S.Tome & Principe on 10th April 2019.   The unusual shaped miniature sheet shows the Nobel Laureates around the world, on the world map.  Sao Tome & Principe is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa.

Full listing of stamps featuring Aung San Suu Kyi can be found here.

Rare 1938 FDC of China Arts Co.,

The cover illustrated below is the 1938 First Day Cover prepared by China Arts Co., cancelled Rangoon G.P.O REG, and Rangoon registration label affixed at the back.  Registration Receipt is attached at the back of the cover.  The cover is backstamped Registration Rangoon DELY mark 15 Nov 38.  It is the philatelic cover with excess postage.

Back of the cover

Richards's Who Was Who in Burma Philately indexed China Arts Co. as Dealers, at Wyndham St., Hong Kong. Their Rangoon addresss – 345 Phayre St. – appears on fdc’s from 1938
onwards.  The Rangoon address was noted as different.

Maiden Voyage Covers

The Maiden Voyage Covers were posted on High Seas, on the Maiden Voyage (first journey) of S.S. EXECUTOR of Ameri-can Export Lines. The American Export Lines operated a number of passenger/cargo ships with the names such as "Excalibur","Excambion" etc. with accomodation for twelve passengers, of which the "Executor" was one. The boat leaves New York 4 Nov to her farthermost port, Rangoon, Burma. This cover appears to be prepared as a courtesy to the ship's crew and passengers by the purchaser which was not posted until the ship called at Rangoon.  In Rangoon, the Maiden Voyage covers was affixed with Burma Centenary stamps and cancelled on 2 Jan 1941.  It attracted the censorship mark PASSED CENSOR 9 RANGOON.

 

The S.S. Executor ship was launched on 21 Sep 1940 and it was delivered to American Exports Line on 22 Oct 1940.  It has made her Maiden Voyage to India two times for conversion to cargo ship for the acquisition of US Navy.  US Navy acquired S.S. Executor on 3 Jun 1941 and commissioned it on 15 Jun 1941.  After acquisition, S.S. Executor was renamed as Almaack and classified as AK-27.

Almaack

The following card was found in one of the Maiden Voyage covers.

The month of Tagu

The fourth stamp of the festivals series is for the month of Tagu and it was issued on 5 Apr. It is the 1st Waxing of Tagu. One empty first day cover was sold at 200 Kyats.

The stamp for the month of Tagu featured its seasonal flowers Padauk [Pterocarpus macrocarpus] and Gantgaw [Mesua ferrea] and water festival.  Burmese New Year festival, known as Thingyan, is held in the month of Tagu (April).  It celebrates over a period of four to five days.  People splashes water at one another during the celebration and it means washing away one’s sins of the previous year.

Stamp design

Newspaper announcement

Though the stamp depicts two flowers, the actual seasonal flower is Gantgaw flower according to Burmese old literatures.  But, Padauk is well known and famous these days and treated as de facto national flower.  So, after rounds of discussions and design drafts, Myanmar Post recommended to design with two flowers.

Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 5 April 2019

Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)

Printing Process : Offset

Stamp Size and Format : 84 mm x 30 mm (Horizontal)

Color : 4

Perforation : 14

Denomination : K200

Sheet Composition :  30 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 150,000 pcs each design
Stamp Designers : Wai Zin Paing (MPS)

Maxicard

 Grab your copies at my eBay store.

Official FDC by Myanmar Post (Mandalay postmark)

FDC by Myanmar Philatelic Society (1000 covers) [MPS-FDC-028]

U Mya Thaung