Diamond Jubilee of Armed Forces Day

On 27 Mar 2017, Myanmar celebrates 75th anniversary of Armed Forces Day.  As I reported in the post on silver jubilee celebration of armed forces day, it was known as resistance day in the beginning.  Myanmar Post, in collaboration with Myanmar Tatmadaw, issued a postage stamp set to commemorate the celebration.  The set includes 3 values.

Stamp Design

Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 27 March 2020
Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)
Printing Process : Offset
Stamp Size and Format : 42 mm x 30 mm (Horizontal)
Color : 4
Perforation : 14
Denomination : K100, K200, K500
Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 300,000 per design
Stamp Designers :

Official FDCs

H.R.H. THE PRINCE of WALES’ CAMP PO

The Prince of Wales spent nine days in Burma, as a major part of his 1921-1922 tour of India.  Travelling with the royal entourage was the  Prince’s Camp PO.  Any such postmarks dated between 2nd and 10th will have been used in Burma.  The prince was in Rangoon for full day on 3 and 9, and in Mandalay for full day on 6 Jan.  Proud recorded the postmark dated 3 Jan while the camp was in Rangoon.

Ex-Gerald Davis, Spink 2005, Lot 14

Two postmarks Proud recorded. The second one assumed to exist, but never recorded during 2nd to 10th.

Prince's arrival to Rangoon

Itinerary

30 Dec 1921—Left Calcultta aboard the Royal Indian Marine ship Dufferin

2 Jan 1922—Landed at Rangoon early morning

3 Jan 1922—Reviewed troops in the morning and gave a dance at the Gymkana Club in the evening.

4 Jan 1922—Left Rangoon for Mandalay by rail in afternoon

5 Jan 1922—Arrived Mandalay in afternoon

7 Jan 1922—Left Mandalay for Rangoon by royal train in evening

8 Jan 1922—Presumably arrived at Rangoon

10 Jan 1922—Left Rangoon in afternoon to continue his tour

13 Jan 1922—Arrived in Madras in morning

Prince of Wales Edward VIII tour to Mandalay, Burma - 1922.

References: 

1. Richard Warren, "Prince of Wales' Camp Post Office, 1922", The Burma Peacock, Vol 18, No 2, Page 97-98, Summer 1998.
2. Alan Meech, "The Prince of Wales' Tour of Burma, 1922", The Burma Fantail, Vol 4, No 2, Page 32-38, April 2007.

Photo retrieved from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/173670129357514689/

New Post Office - Hakha College PO

U Khin Maung Yee kindly informed me about the new post office.  It is also the good gesture of Myanmar Post expending its postal network, even though there was some PO closure last year, like Mandalay Nandwin PO closed in 2019.  Myanmar Post opened new post office at Hakha College.  The college is located in Hakha Township, Chin state.  First date of operation is 9 Mar 2020. The location of the new PO in google map can be found here.

Hakha College Post Office

Myanmar Post has 32 post offices in Chin state as of 2019.  The addition of this PO will make the list to 33. The following registered cover is early registered mail posted on 10 Mar 2020 at this PO, addressed to Yangon.  The cancellation was unclear, we assumed the PO's date stamp is not ready to use and they used Hakha PO stamp instead.  The mail arrived to Yangon GPO on 13 Mar, taking three days in transit, and to Tamwe PO on 15 Mar.

Postcard Story : The Burmese Juggler Maung Law Paw

From my postcard collection of Burma Pavilion in 1924 Wembley British Empire Exhibition,most of the cards shows the exhibit building.  Only a few cards shows the performers at the Burma pavilion.  One of them shows the Burmese Juggler Maung Law Paw, juggling with six Burmese cane ball which we call chinlone.  So, lets find out about Maung Law Paw.

Ottavio Canestrelli performed with the Krone Circus in Italy and Germany from 1922 to 1924.  In 1929, he toured from India to Rangoon and performed the act.  Durin his stay in Rangoon, he met with Maung Law Paw.  He retold the meeting as "While performing my juggling act with the Isako's Circus in Rangoon, Mr. Maung Law Paw, the Burmese champion juggler, came to see the show.  Afterward, he came to my dressing room and was very interested to see my juggling balls.  He was amazed that they were made of rubber because his were made from rattan strips, as cen be viewed in this picture he gave me in 1929." [1].  The picture he mentioned is exactly as the below postcard of Maung Law Paw performing at the Wembley British Empire Exhibition in 1924.

Maung Law Paw at Wembley

Prior to Maung Law Paw, Moung Toon was famous in Burmese Juggling and he has been performing in London and other part of Europe since 1896. [2]  At that time, Burmese Juggling is a "statue trick".  It consists of multiple balances on various body parts at the same time.  The early versions of such tricks, like performance by Burmese Jugglers Moung Toon and Maung Law Paw, includes balances of multiple balls on the body. [3]

Moung Toon

Moung Toon

The documentation on Maung Law Paw's performance at Wembley Exhibition is hardly seen.  According to [4], he performed at Alhambra and Coliseum theaters prior to the Exhibition.


References
[1] Ottavio Gesmundo, "The Grand Gypsy : A Memoir", Lulu publishing services, 20 Jun 2016, pp. 92.
[2] Jonathan Saha, "Burmese Jugglers in Imperial Britain", in Colonizing Animals, Retrieved from https://colonizinganimals.blog/2013/05/08/burmese-jugglers-in-imperial-britain/ on 5 Mar 2020.
[3] David Cain, "Statue Juggling Tricks", Retrieved from https://www.juggle.org/statue-juggling-tricks/ on 5 Mar 2020.
[4] Ashley Jackson, "Building of Empire", Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 254.

Yangon University Centenary Philatelic Show

Myanmar Philatelic Society organizes a remarkable philatelic shows as part of the centenary celebration of Yangon University.  The show is running from 7 to 8 March 2020, at the recreation center of Yangon University.

Invitation card

Numismatic collectors also turned up with their collections to complement the show. Many MPS members participated in the shows with their exhibits. I exhibited my one frame exhibit titled as "Postal System in Myanmar and their Development 1990-1999".  The exhibit includes the developments of Myanmar Post postal system and their efforts for speedy delivery in 1990s with the study of hand stamps varieties.  Also the postage rates changes, registration labels introduced, modern mail censorship and postage due processing are presented in the postal history aspect.

First page of my exhibit

Yangon University Post Office open the PO counter at the exhibition.  The normal and registered mails are accepted, and sell stamps.  An official commemorative postmark is prepared.

PO Counter [Kamayut aka Yangon University PO]

<From left to right> U Sit Aung, U Mya Thaung, U Bo Bo,
U Khin Maung Yee, U Zaw Htun Lin, U Thein Tun Kyaw, U Sein Min

Postcard Story : The Burmese dwarf "Smaun Sing Hpoo"

Smaun Sing Hpoo is noted as "the smallest athlete in the world" by the Dakota Farmers' Leader and "the smallest most perfectly formed man in the world". Smaun Sing Hpoo is 34 inches tall, 20 pounds weighted and an expert gymnast. His chest measures 22.5 inches and his hip measures also 22.5 inches. He was born on 6 Sep 1883 in Mergui, British Burma. He has one sister who is also dwarf and three brothers who are at normal sizes [5].

Smaun Sing Hpoo

Smaun (left) and Fatma (right) standing next to a champagne bottle. Artwork from the 19th volume (first period of 1897) of the French popular science weekly 'La Science Illustree'.

The arrival of he and his sister (Fatma Sing Hpoo) to Europe and their trips were comprehensively traced in the work done by Louis Takacs [6].  During 1900-1902, they are in US as non-immigrant aliens.  They then toured Europe before arriving in New York in 1905.  According to the manifest of S.S. St. Louis ship on which Smaun boarded, destined to US, he is unmarried in 1905. 

They performed at Hammerstein's Victoria Theater on 42nd Street.  Fatma Sing Hpoo is also a dwarf, weighted 15 pounds and is 28 inches height.  She is two years older than Smaun.  The Daily News - Democrat newspaper published about the Sing Hpoo in [4].  This is one year before the Fatma's death and her weight and height are noticeably lower.

Newspaper Cutout

Fatma and Smaun performed at many shows.  There are some records on their performances at Birmingham Hippodrome history website.

• Fatma and Smaun Sing Hpoo – The Indian Pygmies- the smallest coloured midgets living from 24 Dec to 29 Dec 1900 at Birmingham Hippodrome
• Fatma and Smaun Sing Hpoo - 'The Burmese Midgets' from 29 Dec 1902 to 3 Jan 1903 [Fatma passed away on 29 Dec] at Old Opera House Building
• Smaun Sing Hpoo – ‘the famous Burmese Midget – age 22 years; height 34 ins; weight 18lbs’ from 27 Feb to 4 Mar 1905 at Birmingham Hippodrome.  Smaun Sing Hpoo does a clever act conducting a band and finishing with an acrobatic turn.
• Smaun Sing Hpoo - 'The Burmese Balancing Marvel' in Apr 1910 at Birgmingham Hippodrome
• Smaun Sing Hpoo – ‘Ring Performer’ from 21 Nov to 26 Nov 1910 at Birmingham Hippodrome

Newspaper advertisement of programme which includes Sing Hpoos performance

The Royaume de Lilliput, Paris, France." New York Times (1857-1922) 10 April 1910, p.55 . Source [6]

Fatma died at the age of 22, at the Crosby House on 29 Dec 1902 and they were there for the exhibition.  According to [3], the information about her final time can be found in Dec 30 issue of San Francisco newspaper.

Sing Hpoo can speak English well, German fluently and French slightly, while Burmese is his native.He is noted as a big eater with respect to his body size.  He can eat just as much as any ordinary man.  He likes to eat three to four eggs during breakfast.  He can swallow a couple of dozen oysters at a sitting.  He eats a large quantity of meat but is not found of potatoes or other vegetables.

Although Sing Hpoo is a Burmese, he spent most of his time in Western countries.  I do not observe any of postcard with his picture, published by Burmese postcard publishers of that time.

Newspaper cutout of [5]

There is no records found on the death of Smaun Sing Hpoo, but found one record he is still acting the performance at his age of 31.  He may quite live longer than that.

References
[1] "Is the Tiniest Gymnast", Dakota Farmers' Leader, 7 Jul 1905, Page 3.
[2] Thant Myint Oo, The Burmese dwarft "Smaun Sing Hpoo", The lost footsteps of Burma, retrieved from https://lostfootsteps.org/en/history/the-burmese-dwarf-smaun-sing-hpoo on 4 Mar 2020.
[3] Paul, "The Mysterious Little Stone", Rediscovering Southeast Taxes, retrieved from https://www.rediscoveringsetx.com/2014/02/26/the-mysterious-little-stone/ on 4 Mar 2020.
[4] "The Atoms of Humanity", The Daily News = Democrat, Huntington, Indiana, 21 Jan 1902, Page 3.
[5] "Smaun Sing Hpoo, Tiny Burmese, Smallest Man in the World", Albuquerque Evening Citizen, New Mexico, Vol 19 No 292, 20 Nov 1905, Page 2.
[6] Louis Takacs, "Two Extremes", LET ME GET THERE, Retrieved from https://scalar.usc.edu/works/let-me-get-there/two-extremes on 4 Mar 2020.

Peasants' Day Prepaid Postcards

In 1960s, Myanmar Post issued several prepaid postcards.  The postcards are prepaid by meter franks of 5 Pyas or hand stamp "Postage Paid".  2nd March is commemorated as the Peasants' Day in Myanmar. In this post, I would like to share some prepaid postcards issued for the Peasants' day.

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970