Postage stamp, defined as “ a small adhesive piece of paper of specified value issued by a national Post Office to be affixed to a letter or parcel to indicate the amount of postage paid “, by Oxford English Dictionary. The first stamp in the world, invented by an Englishman Sir Rowland Hill, was issued 180 years ago in United Kingdom in May 1840 — the well known “Penny Black”. With advance in technology, the piece of paper also has underwent evolution. Advanced and innovative printing technologies such as special materials(eg metals, silk), embroidery, fluorescent effect, gold or silver printing, emboss printing, special odour and taste, unique shapes etc are being produced nowadays. A review article titled “Stamps of Aprroval” by Singapore National Heritage Board covered different unique stamps of the world: https://www.roots.sg/learn/stories/stamps-of-approval/story
Another article comprehensively covering “The Unusual Stamps and MS of Malaysia”, written by Genevieve V. A. Gee and Dr Indraneil Das, can be assessed via the link: https://myfdc.me/articles/the-unusual-stamps-and-ms-of-malaysia/
The first Malaysia stamps for use throughout Malaya were issued on 5th May 1957 with 4v General Issue stamps. Since then nearly 600 stamp issues were introduced by Pos Malaysia to date. In this blog I would like to write on Malaysia unique stamps made from non-paper materials. From my own record, there were four stamp issues:-
- Malaysian Currency Premium silver stamp RM50, issued on 18th January 2010.
- The Baba & Nyonya Heritage copper plated with 22K gold stamp RM50, issued on 1st December 2014.
- The Baba & Nyonya Heritage lithography & embroidery stamp RM35, issued on 12th February 2015.
- Farm Animals wood stamp RM15, issued on 16th February 2015.
1) Malaysian Currency Premium silver stamp RM50
From my personal record, this is the first non-paper stamp issued by Pos Malaysia. This premium stamp is made of 999 purity silver weigh 1.12 grams with face value of RM50. I supposed it was also the first highest single-value stamp ever issued by Pos Malaysia that time. Interestingly, it is the first Malaysian stamp ever issued for dual purposes:- I) to commemorate 50 years of the Central Bank of Malaysia ( Bank Negara Malaysia ), and also II) to complement the Pos Malaysia stamps issue of Malaysian Currency on 18th January 2010. The stamp featured the commemorative gold proof coin of face value RM50 issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia on 8th February 2009. A RM50 gold coin images on a RM50 silver stamp!
2) The Baba & Nyonya Heritage copper plated with 22K gold stamp RM50
The Baba & Nyonya Heritage stamps was first issued by Pos Malaysia on 29th November 2013 with 4v stamps and a nicely designed beautiful RM5 miniature sheet featuring image of Nyonya Kebaya Embroidery. It had won 4th Place for Wiener Internationale Postwertzeichen Ausstellung Grand Prix 2013 in Austria.
During the first day of World Youth Stamp Exhibition 2014 held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 1st — 6th December 2014, Pos Malaysia issued this RM50 copper metal plated with 22K gold stamp.
3) The Baba & Nyonya Heritage lithography & embroidery stamp RM35
This lovely lithography & embroidery Nyonya Kebaya RM35 stamp was issued on 12th February 2015 (about 2 months after RM50 gold plated metal stamp was issued) at philatelic bureau Kuala Lumpur. Embroidery on embroidery stamp!
4) Farm Animals wood stamp RM15
This wood miniature sheet stamp was issued together with 3v stamps and RM5 same imaged MS of Farm Animals issue, on 16th February 2015, just 4 days after the RM35 embroidery stamp was issued. The special wood MS stamp was available for sale to public throughout Malaysia’s post offices.
What will be the next unique non-paper Malaysian stamp?
