Unengraved meter stamp of Myanmar in 2001

The meter stamp used in 2001 at Yangon GPO has ungraved rectangle with the opening for value figure.  According to the international postage meter stamp catalogue, it was appeared to be Frama "EPS" (MV).

It has been recorded in the Meter Stamp Society's quarterly bulletin Vol 63, No 3, Autumn 2011 page 11.  The screenshot for that report is shown below.  The bulletin can be downloaded at the Meter Stamp Society website.

The whole cover with this meter stamp is shown below.  The foreign postage at the time is 30 Kyats for the letter up to 20 grams. On the envelope, there is the hand writing saying the total postage of 33. Not sure what is extra 3 Kyats for.   PSE has postage of 2 Kyats and the PSE was uprated with meterfrank of 31 Kyats, making up 33 Kyats.

Another such meter stamp was recorded in The Burma Fantail, the Journal of the Burma (Myanmar) Philatelic Study Circle, Vol 2, No 3, July 2005, page 31.  It is assumed that the die was removed or covered.  And claimed the die was repaired.  The screenshot of the report is shown below.

    
 

Certificate of Posting, Burma

A Certificate of Posting is your proof that you have posted the item declared on the postal network.  It has to be issued by post office with the charge.  In Myanmar, as far as I have learnt, you can get the certificate of posting only at the Yangon GPO.  One certificate can certify up to three unregistered letters or items.

The current rate for issuing one certificate is 200 Kyats.  According to my records, the rates are as follows:

200 Kyats : 2017 May 25 to Present
100 Kyats: 2011 November 30 to 2017 May 24
5 Kyats : 1997 December 1 to 2011 October 29
50 Pyas : 1991 March 1 & April 1 to 1997 November 30
10 Pyas : 1976 May 1 to 1991 March/April

Some certificates I have collected in my collections are displayed for your viewing.

Issued on 14 Mar 1996

Issued on 25 Jun 1998

Issued on 26 Feb 2018 (200 Kyats rate, unstamped)

Issued on 10 Aug 2018

72nd Anniversary of Independence Day

On 4th Jan 2020, Myanmar Post issued a set of three stamps for 72nd anniversary of Independence Day.   This year, the stamp designs are based on the photo greeting cards produced by the Ministry of Information.  The original greeting cards are distributed among the Government.  All the stamps featured the national races of Myanmar and Independence Monument.

Stamp Designs

Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 4 January 2020
Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)
Printing Process : Offset
Stamp Size and Format : 42 mm x 30 mm (Horizontal)
Color : 4
Perforation : 14
Denomination : K200 three designs
Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 300,000 pc per design
Stamp Designers : Zay Yar Lin

Design 1 (left) used same design of one stamp issued during 2016.   The independence monument seen in design 1 and 2 (left and middle) is the monument from the Mahabandoola park near the Sule pagoda.  The monument in the design 3 (right) is also known as the Pinlon Union munument, which is located at Pinlon.

Two simple commemorative postmarks were used  on the first day of issue.  One in Burmese and the other in English.  My personal view to this is unnecessary to have two different cancellation.  It will be better to include both languages in one chop (I know there was a proposal of such).

I witnessed the stamp sale on the first day at Yangon GPO.  All the empty FDC at Yangon GPO are sold out within first few hours.  One official empty FDC are sold at 200 Kyats to public.  MPS is selling its FDC at 200 Kyats to its members, and 300 Kyats to the public for fund raising purpose.  Joining MPS can save 100 Kyats for every FDC purchased.

First Day Covers

Official FDC by Myanmar Post

MPS FDC

U Mya Thaung FDC

FDC by Hobby (Thein Tun Kyaw)

Maximum card

MRTV News

Postcards to commemorate pre-centenary of Yangon University

Happy new year to visitors of my blog!  I am wishing you healthy and prosperous year ahead. 

On the new year day, 1st Jan, I visited Yangon GPO to purchase the official postcards issued by Myanmar Post to commemorate the pre-centenary of Yangon University.  Yangon University was opened in 1920 and they celebrates their 100 years birthday in 2020.  Pictorial cancellation was provided by Myanmar Post on that day. 

I observed two different varieties of postcards.  It difference both on the front and back.  The comparison of two version is shown below.  I have learnt that there were two batch of printing during the production stage.  The first batch comes with Designer name in Burmese and the second batch in English.  Some color variations and formatting of texts are also easily noticeable.

Varieties of postcards

As the stamp was yet to issue, most collectors used Diamond Jubilee of Yangon University stamps to get the cancellation.  

Commemorative cancellation

U Aung Ko commented on the design faults of postmark and shared his view.  The Gantgaw flowers on the stamps and postmark during the previous issues represent the years they celebrates.  For example, three flowers for 75th anniversary, with one flower representing 25 years.  The new postmark has additional flower.  And the Gantgaw flower has only four petals, but the flowers on the postmark has five each.  These should be take into account during the postmark design process.

Low value definitive (1st stamp)

Due to low stocks of 100K and 200K stamps at Post Offices, the Post Office is planning to issue a new series of Definitive.  As there is an urgency, the new series with new topic cannot be adopted immediately as it needs long and time taking process of approval.  So, the temporary solution is to reuse the topic which was previously used as definitive.   In 2017, the Musical Instruments definitive of 1990s were revisited with new arrangements and denominations.  This time also, adapting the same idea and Bird series of 1960s is revisited.

The first stamp in this series is Indian Roller bird (Hnat Khar), of which scientific name is Coracias benghalensis.  It is the same bird illustrated in my logo. The four color stamp has denomination of 100 Kyats.  Total of 3400 official FDCs were produced.

Stamp Design

   Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 12 Dec 2019

Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)

Printing Process : Offset

Stamp Size and Format : 30m x 42m (Vertical)

Color : 4

Perforation : 14

Denomination : K10

Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet

Quantity : 2,000,000 pcs

Stamp Designers : Wai Zin Paing

First Day Covers

Official FDC, cancelled at Mandalay

MPS FDC (1000 Covers) [MPS-FDC-040]

145th Anniversary of UPU (World Post Day)

Universal Postal Union was established in 1875 by the Treaty of Bern.  In 2019, UPU celebrates its 145th anniversary.  Currently, with its 192 member countries, the union is headquartered in the Swiss capital Berne.  On 9th October, World Post Day, Myanmar also issued a stamp to commemorate the 145th anniversary of UPU.

Stamp Design

 Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 9 Oct 2019

Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)
Printing Process : Offset
Stamp Size and Format : 42 mm x 30 mm (Horizontal)
Color : 4
Perforation : 14
Denomination : K200
Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 1,000,000 pcs
Stamp Designers : Universal Postal Union

Maxicard

First Day Covers

Official FDC by Myanmar Post

MPS FDC (900 Covers) [MPS-FDC-037]

FDC by U Mya Thaung

On 9th October, the World Post Day celebration was held in Nay Pyi Taw by Myanmar Post.  At this event, a special commemorative cover was prepared and gave to the attendees as a souvenir and sold a few numbers of covers.  Total of 500 covers were produced.  The cancellation is also different from the first day cancellation.  The cover is shown below.

150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

This year marks 150th Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and many countries around the world issues stamps commemorating Mathama Gandhi.  Myanmar also join the commemoration by issuing the stamp.  Mathama Gandhi was born on 2 Oct 1869.

Empty first day cover were sold at 200 Kyats each, and postcard at 100 Kyats.  Large folder which can hold one full sheet, a postcard and a first day cover are also sold at 5000 Kyats.

On the first day of issue, 50000 stamps, 1000 First Day Covers, 700 postcards and 200 folder were sold at Mandalay GPO.

Stamp Design

 Technical Details of Stamps

Date of Issue : 2 Oct 2019
Printer : Security Printing Works (Myanmar)
Printing Process : Offset
Stamp Size and Format : 42 mm x 30 mm (Horizontal)
Color : 4
Perforation : 14
Denomination : K100
Sheet Composition :  50 Stamps per Sheet
Quantity : 1,000,000 pcs
Stamp Designers : Thiha Lwin (TMH)

First Day Covers

Official FDC by Myanmar Post, cancelled at Mandalay

MPS First Day Cover (900 Covers) [MPS-FDC-036]

U Mya Thaung FDC

Video News (Mandalay GPO)