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.
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| 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My own exhibit was withdrawn due to some logistics issues.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.
