Costumes ~ Pyu Era

The first set of costume series is issued on 27 Sep 2021.  The set includes two stamps depicting man and woman in Pyu era costumes.  At Yangon GPO, Mandalay GPO and Naypyitaw CPO, the envelope with cachet are sold at 200 Kyats each.  In addition to the envelopes, the folding card with the design facts is also sold at 200 Kyats each.

Pyu Era Costume Stamps Design

Newspaper Appearance

Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 27 September 2021
Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)
Printing Process : Offset
Stamp Size and Format : 30 mm x 42 mm (Horizontal)
Color : 4
Perforation : 14
Denomination : K200 two designs
Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 300,000 pc per design
Stamp Designers :

Two official FDCs were produced.

Maxicards

Maxicard set made by Ko Thein Tun Kyaw

Received in Damaged Condition Instructional Marking, 1978

Recent find on eBay attracts my eyes.  The cover is not in good condition, but the front shows some texts in rectangular box.  It is found on the inland ordinary letter sent from Toungoo on 26 Jun 1978 to Rangoon.  The marking and its translation is shown below.

 The envelope is displayed below.

Stamp depicting a Mural from Bagan

One stamp issued in 2011 is missing from my list of Burmanica stamps.  That is the Mozambique stamp featuring the religious arts of the world.  The set includes two souvenir sheets; one with 6 stamps and the other with a single stamp.  

Out of six stamps, one features Buddhist arts.  Face value is 16.00 MT.  Two souvenir sheets in this set are displayed below.

Naigamwala's letterheads printed on Air Letters

Mr N.K.D. Naigamwala used to print the letterheads for his personal usage or for his stamp business.  In this post, I want to record two such letterheads printed on air letters of Burma.  The type I is printed on the 1946 King George VI Air Letter sheet.  Together with this letterhead, he pre-printed the message for his stamp business.  At this time, he noted himself as Proprietor of Burma Stamp Agency.  It is displayed below.

 

Type I

The type II is found printed on 1950 Flying Hintha Air Letter sheet.  The message is not printed on this type.  He titled himself as Philatelist in this letterhead and he became the member of PTS London.  His stated mailing address on both types is P.O. Box No 400, 155, 40th Street (Top Floor), Rangoon, Burma. 

Type II

The stamp he designed and his photo are printed.  He also introduced himself in the letterhead as follows.  

"Mr. N.K.D. NAIGAMWALA [spelt as NAIGAMWALLA in second type], the Indian Parsee Pioneer of Organized Philately in Burma, and his design of the Eight Annas Postage Stamp, depicting a Burma Sailing Vessel on the Irrawaddy, for which he was awarded a prize in the 1938 Government of Burma Pictorial Stamps Design Competition and which has been deemed by members of the Royal Philatelic Society of London to be the best of the new Pictorial Series of stamps, practically all of which bear the impress of the appropriate suggestions made by Mr. Naigamwalla for imitating and improvement by other competitors with a view to producing the best possible stamps for Burma, the land of his adoption.  

Mr. Naigamwalla has written a book of English verse, entitled "Reflections at Random" and has fostered constitutional Professional Boxing in Burma by founding the Burma Boxing Board of Control."

Extract from "SWARNA BHOOMI", RANGOON, Issue October 1939.

PHILANIPPON 2021 37th Asian International Stamp Exhibition

PHILANIPPON 2021 was originally planned as FIP World Stamp Championship.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the exhibition was changed to 37th Asian International Stamp Exhibition.  It was successfully held at Pacifico Yokohama Hall B/C from 25th Aug to 30th Aug 2021.  Total of 186 exhibits participated and 100 are literature exhibits.

I served as a Myanmar Commissioner for PHILANIPPON 2021.  For and on behalf of Myanmar Philatelic Society, the special prize was donated to PHILANIPPON.

Special Prize donated by Myanmar

 

My own exhibit was withdrawn due to some logistics issues.  Myanmar submitted one entry in literature class.  The book "Postage Stamps of Myanmar" by U Kyaw Myint Maung (Reggie) has scroed 78 points and won Large Silver medal award.  My congratulations to Reggie.

This book is the complete compilation or survey of Burma and Myanmar stamps. Every stamp has its own reason of issues and historical background on the topic matters. Based on author’s lifetime study and familiarity with all the many necessary sources, the most thorough and comprehensive book to date can now be published.

In this book, every stamp issues of Myanmar are discussed and illustrated in color, from the 1937 overprints to the Htamanè Festival stamp of 2019 February. For every stamp issues of Myanmar, the detail design study in terms of historical background and design elements are discussed. The motives that make the issue possible are also researched and discussed. Most importantly, the printing methods, printers, and other technical aspects are also studied in this book. The extremely complex BIA peacock overprints characterizations and Showa surcharges of the Occupation period are sensibly summarized.

As well as the philatelic details, much of the text is devoted to the historical context and subject matter of each issue, making the book accessible to the interested beginner, as well as a detailed reference.
A brief introduction provides a historical overview, and then eight colour coded sections cover each era of stamp issues, set by set. Each era shows depicts different administration, historical artifacts, and most interestingly political instability through the stamps. The era covered in this book are

• British Burma Era (1937-1947)
• Japanese Occupation Era (1942-1944)
• Parliament Democracy Era (1948-1961)
• Revolutionary Government Era (1962-1973)
• Burma Socialist Party Era (1974-1985)
• State Law and Order Restoration Council Era (1990-1997)
• State Peace and Development Council Era (1998-2010)
• Republic Myanmar (2010-2019)

Finally, there are some technical details, and useful tables and charts, covering aspects such as designs with flags, national titles, etc. This section includes the analytical study of stamp issues in different era, quantitative study of Myanmar stamps related to United Nations, Sports, Buddhism, Capital City, etc. It’s a measure of the regard with which the book has been received that a number of forewords are included by interested personalities, including U Htin Kyaw, ex-President of Myanmar.

U Khin Tun passed away

It is sad to learn that U Khin Thun, one of the Burmese well-known philatelist, passed away on 27 July 2021 at 7 PM in Meiktila.  U Khin Tun, we called him Par Par Gyi, is the patron of the Myanmar Philatelic Society.  When MPS was established, U Khin Tun was elected as the Vice President of the society.  We personally met several times at his flat, had lunch together and talk about stamps.  I am grateful for the literature of Burmese philately he shared with me, so I can started my study. 

Par Par Gyi contributed many research works and articles in Burma Peacock and Burma Fantail philatelic journals.  It is a great loss to Burmese Philatelic communities.My deepest condolences are with his family.  May his soul rest in peace.

U Wint Khine, Ko Toe, U Bo Bo, Late U Khin Tun, Late U Kyaw Han <from left to right>

Postcard Story : Hlaing College

Hlaing college was established in 1977, also known as No 2 regional college in Yangon.  It is located slightly north of the main campus of Yangon University.  In 1981, it became the Hlaing campus of the Yangon University.  In this post, I would like to share the set of postcards depicting some buildings and scenarios of the Hlaing college.

Chin couple PSE overprinted at Voluntary Service Camp

The 15 Pyas Chin couple PSE of 1988 were recorded overprinted too.  The following cover was overprinted at Nyaunglebin Township, People's Health Youth Voluntary Service Base Camp.  The camp was opened for one month from 4.4.1988 to 3.5.1988.  Three dotted address lines were also printed.

 

The envelope was sold to participants at 50 Pyas each.  The original envelope price without the overprint was 30 Pyas only. 

Ne Win on stamp for the first time

Bangladesh Post issued 100 stamps contained in 17 miniature sheets to commemorate the life of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of the country, on his birth centenary.  The sheets are contained in a commemorative stamp booklets.  Only 2000 booklets are produced.  Theses were scheduled to release on 17 Mar 2020, but actually released on 4 Apr 2021.

One of the stamp include the portrait of notorious Ne Win, was President of Myanmar, sitting with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during one of the official meeting on 28 Apr 1974.  The denomination is Tk. 10.  It is 69th stamp out of 100.  Ne Win was never seen on world stamps before and this is the first time seeing this.  But his name appeared on some commemorative postmarks of Pakistan during his visits.  Together with this stamp, other five in sheet features USA President Gerald Ford, Senegal President Leopold Sedar Senghor, France Intellectual Andre Malroux, Saudi Arabia King Faisal,  U.A.E King Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

These stamps of are printed from The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd., Gazipur, in four color offset printing with 12.5 perf while the size is 55 mm x 70 mm.

Postcard going in and out of Burma

In my previous post, I shared the U.S.A postcard redirected twice within Burma.  This post features more interesting card with 13 date stamps on it.  The card was posted from Bombay, India, addressed to Fort Stedman.  But still have to be forwarded as the addressee moved.

Front of the card

The incoming card from Bombay arrived at Rangoon mail exchange before traveling to Fort Stedman via Meiktila Road (Thazi).  The card was then readdressed to Lashio, via Maymyo.  As the addressee was also not in Lashio, the card was readdressed to Bangkok via Singapore.  For this trip, the card had to transit Maymyo again, Rangoon, and then Singapore before arrival to Bangkok.

 

Back of the card

When we look at the date stamps, the order of transits is as follows:  

BOMBAY 14 Sep 1894
RANGOON xx Sep 1894
MEIKTILA ROAD 2x Sep 1894
FORT STEDMAN 23 Sep 1894
FORT STEDMAN 26 Sep 1894
MAYMYO 30 Sep 1894
LASHIO 7 Oct 1894
LASHIO 8 Oct 1894
MAYMYO 16 Oct 1894
RANGOON xx Oct 1894
SINGAPORE 29 Oct 1894
SINGAPORE 29 Oct 1894
BANGKOK 6 Nov 1894

The mail route illustrated

The card traveled about two months before it was delivered to the intended person successfully.  We can know from the above order that there can be a direct mail route between FORT STEDMAN and MAYMYO.

Insein Post Office

Insein PO is located on Lanthit Road, near Insein park.  It is grade 1 post office and its postal code is 11011.  Please click the link for the location on the map.  It is just beside the Insein flyover.

Insein PO seen from the Lanthit Road

I visited Insein PO on 22 Feb 2018 and sent a registered mail to myself to collect the postmark and registration mark.

Registered mail from Insein PO. Paid 2500 Kyats for oversea registered mail.

 

There is no Registeration mark, but the box handstamp reading Insein in Burmese.  The registration number is manuscript-ed and separate date stamp was applied.  The letter arrived to Foreign Mail Exchange at Yangon on next day and applied duo color date stamp and trackable registration label was pasted before sending out to oversea country. 

Reply Card from USA, Redirected Twice in Burma

The following reply card was sent from USA to Burma, but interestingly it was redirected twice within Burma.  Both portions of the reply card were still attached.  The reply portion remains unused.  

The card is addressed to Mr S. G. Grantham of Land Mortgage Banks who is deliverable by RANGOON SECRETARIAT PO.  It was sent from New York on 2 Mar 1929, arrived to Rangoon Secretariat.  The PO attempted to deliver the card twice on 9 and 10 Apr 1929.  As the addressee was moved to Henzada, the card was forwarded to Circuit House, Henzada on 10 Apr 1929, by handwriting and striking out Secretariat, Rangoon.  The card arrived to HENZADA and attempted to deliver on 12 Apr 1929. 

Unfortunately, Mr S.G. Grantham was no longer in Henzada.  He moved to Maymyo and the card had to be redirected again to MAYMYO, Hillbrow.  Finally, the card was delivered to the addressee successfully on 14 Apr 1929.  But he did not respond by tearing off the reply portion and send back to U.S.A. Or may be he did by other means. 

Postcard from Burma, disinfected in Malta

The disinfected mail is the mail or postal item disinfected or fumigated by Postal Authorities to prevent the spread of epidemics via letters from infected area.  It is customary that Disinfection Marking is applied on the item to mark the disinfection process.  The postal articles sent from Burma are hardly seen with disinfected marking.  The following postcard was sent from Burma to Malta, apparently with Disinfection marking.

The 1A international postcard was sent from Fort Stedman by a British soldier on 4 Jan 1898, addressed to Malta.  Fort Stedman is the British Headquarters for the Southern Shan states of Burma.  The location is currently known as Maing Thauk, on the bank of Inle lake in Nyaung Shwe township.  The postcard was transited Rangoon on 8 Jan 1898, Sea Post Office Aden on 15 Jan 1898.  

It finally arrived to Malta and was fumigated upon arrival because of the outbreak of the pestilence (Plague) in India.  The double oval "Disinfected, Lazaretto Malta, 20 Jan 98" marking was applied.  The Lazzaretto is a former quarantine facility and hospital on Manoel Island in Gżira, Malta.  The Malta postmark is dated 30 Jan 1898.  As the result of the fumigation process, the card has some stains, but still a lovely postal history item in my collection.

The study about the quarantine and postal disinfection against this particular plague were documented by V.Denis Vandervelde.  The page related is shown below.

King Edward VII One Anna Post Card of British India, used in Burma

The King Edward VII One Anna Postcard was issued in 1907 for international usage.  The card is sized 139 x 89 mm and printed with Carmine on Buff paper.  The post card rate for UPU at the time is one Anna.  5760 cards were distributed to Rangoon in 1908.

The following postcard was sent from Mohnyin on 22 Aug 1910 to Cape Town, south Africa.  South Africa is considered a rare destination of items from Burma.  The card arrived at Cape Town on 3 Oct 1910.  Proud has seen and recorded only one date for Mohnyin postmark (KD3), so this is the second recorded copy with this postmark.

The second example was sent from Rangoon on 27 Feb 1913, sorted and cancelled at the stationery Rangoon Railway Mail Section Sorting Office.  The card was addressed to Surabaya, Indonesia and arrived on 9 Mar 1913.  The arrival postmark is on the reverse.

In 1921, UPU postcard rate was increased to One Anna Six Pies.  Obsolete One Anna postcards stocks were surcharged with the figures 1½ in black and released as an emergency or provisional issue.   Total of 26,880 cards were distributed to Rangoon in 1922 and 1923.  The following card was sent from Rangoon on 5 May 1924 to Germany.  There is no arrival postmark on the card.

Letter from Taung-Gyi-Ko-Lone

U Nu or Thakin Nu was the first Prime Minister of Burma from 1984 to 1956, again from 1957 to 1958, and finally from 1960 to 1962.  Less than two years after his last election victory, U Nu was overthrown by a coup d'etat led by General Ne Win on 2 March 1962.  In 1969, U Nu left Burma for India and then U.K.  

In London, on 27 Aug 1969, U Nu held a press conference announcing he was the legal prime minister of Burma and he pledged to the people of Burma that he would not give up his struggle for democracy in Burma.  U Nu announced the formation of a new party, the Parliamentary Democracy party, to restore representative government in Burma. A party headquarters and a de facto government-in-exile were established in Thai border (Taung-Gyi-Ko-Lone).

The cover shown above is the philatelic fantasy mail sent from Taung-Gyi-Ko-Lone, United Front Headquarters in Eastern Burma.  The cover bares the symbol with Peacock in Octagram, with the text “Union Government” above the peacock and “1970-1972” below.  Above the symbol, the text Taung-Gyi-Ko-Lone appears in Burmese and English.  

The blue 5 Pyas Indian Roller Bird stamp of 1964 was affixed and cancelled with fancy cancellation of roller type dated 22 May 1972.  The texts on cancellation are Union General Post Office on the upper arch, BURMA G.P.O. on the lower arch and “Elected Government of the Union of Burma Liberated Zone” on the wavy roller lines.

As this is a fantasy cover, the postage seems not valid.  Thailand stamp was affixed for postage and cancelled at Maesot dated 7 June 1972 and Bangkok dated 10 June 1972 on the reverse.  It is clearly stated Philatelic Cover and addressed to French Embassy in Bangkok.  As U Nu’s government-in-exile was just a de-facto-government, its postage, postal services, cancellation were not officially accepted, but the letter was successfully delivered.  Likewise, Karen independent self-proclaimed states of Kawthoolei also issued its own postage stamps in 1986.

My involvements and commitments in societies

As of 2021, I am the member of four philatelic societies around the world, one in Myanmar, one in Singapore and two in U.K.  This report is to update my involvements and commitments in some of these societies.  I attended the virtual AGM of Zui You Philatelic Society, based in Singapore, on 12 December 2020.  In this meeting, the new executive committee was successfully elected and Mr Seow Shin Horng was elected as the new President.  My congratulations to Shin Horn and committee members.  As in the last term, I was appointed as an Auditor by the committee.

ZUI YOU PHILATELIC SOCIETY EXCO COMMITTEE (2020-2022)
Honorary Advisor	Tan Kan Buay
Executive Advisor	Henry Ong Seow Yee, FRPSL
President	Seow Shin Horng, CFA
1st Vice President	Alan Chong Siow Min
2nd Vice President	Wong Han Min
Honorary Secretary	Zhao Jia
Ast. Honorary Secretary	Fong Weng Min
Honorary Treasurer	Wang Lei
Ast. Honorary Treasurer	Eric Lee
Executive Members	Loo Wing Tek
	Soh Poh Cheng
	Hong Kay Jin
	Er Chiang Song
Auditor	Toe Kyaw Kyar

 On 20 February 2021, Burma (Myanmar) Philatelic Study Circle [B(M)PSC in short], based in U.K, held the virtual AGM.  In this meeting, the existing committee members were re-elected, while Mike Ley from U.S.A and I were elected to the positions of committee members without office. My congratulations to the new exco.

B(M)PSC COMMITTEE (2021-2023)
Chairman / Treasurer	Rufus Barnes
Secretary	Michael Whittaker
Librarian	Andrew Skilling
Editor	Richard Warren
Committee Members	Mike Ley
	Toe Kyaw Kyar

The Burma (Myanmar) Philatelic Study Circle is a UK based organisation with an international membership, for collectors of all aspects of Burma. It was founded in 2005, and grew out of the UK Chapter of the “old” Burma Philatelic Study Circle, which existed from 1979 to 2000 and published The Burma Peacock under the very able editorship of Alan Meech in Canada.

The main benefit to B(M)PSC members is our quarterly journal, The Burma Fantail, successor to the Peacock, which is mailed printed and stapled in full colour, or emailed as a colour pdf file. Twice yearly, UK members meet in London at Stampex; meetings are cordial and members’ displays are always interesting and worthwhile.

For a sample back issue of the Fantail in pdf format please contact the Editor, Richard Warren, at rwarren99@yahoo.com. For details of current memberships rates, or to join, please contact our Secretary, Mike Whittaker, at manningham8@mypostoffice.co.uk.