A discussion of themes found in Singapore postage stamps.

2011-06-18

2011 Oriental small-clawed otters

SingPost released on 1 June 2011 a se-tenant strip of 4 stamps featuring the endangered oriental small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea), also known as the Asian small-clawed otter. The geographical range of this creature appears large, they are currently found from the Himalayan foothills of Himachal Pradesh eastward throughout south Asia, extending southwards to the Philippines and through Indonesia, its actual distrubution however is very thin. The only areas in which these animals are known to be common are Peninsular Malaysia, especially in Kedah, and in the western forests and southern marshes of Thailand. In Singapore, sightings have been recorded from the northern coast of Singapore, namely the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong. The otter feeds on crabs, mollusks, mudkippers, fish and other small aquatic animals with its hand-like paws. The stamps feature the otters in a mangrove swamp environment, with the propping roots of the mangrove trees, a fiddler crab and a dragonfly. The designer of these stamps is Edmund Chen Zhi Cai, an actor well-known in Singapore. who has also signed on as a stamp ambassador with SingPost. A special serialised imperforated souvenir sheet was also released, and only 1000 of these were printed.

2011-06-17

2011 Hawker Centres

Singaporeans love food, and hawker centres are places where very affordable popular and indigenous cuisines are found. These 4 stamps, issued on 16 May 2011, features 4 iconic hawker centres in Singapore - Lau Pa Sat, Newton Food Centre, Maxwell Food Centre and East Coast Lagoon Food Village - places where tourists may find snippets of authentic Singapore.
Lau Pa Sat means old market in the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, was Singapore’s first wet market where fresh produce was sold. was Designed by James MacRitchie and built in 1894, Telok Ayer Market as it was originally called, is located in the middle of the city and is an octagon looking from its top. Its Victorian cast-iron frames with intricate filigree ornamentation were shipped all the way from Glasgow. In 1973 it was renovated and converted into a food centre offering a wide variety of local food. In that same year it was gazetted as a national monument.
The Newton Food Centre, opened in 1971, is located at Newton Circus, and is usually the food centre featured in tourist brochures to sample authentic Singapore cuisine. Currently it is also the nearest major street food centre to the shopping belt of Orchard Road. Because of its high touristy profile, the food offered has biased towards the pricier seafood, overshadowing other reasonably priced Singapore cuisine.
Located between the northern fringe of the business district and the southern fringe of Chinatown, the Maxwell Food Centre which began its roots in 1935 as a vegetable produce wholesale centre in the city. In the 1980s it was converted into a temporary premises for food hawkers from China Square along China Street, it remained a hawker centre since then, closing for a year in 2000 for renovations. Today it serves many iconic Singapore dishes and is one of the cheapest eating places in the area.
The East Coast Lagoon Food Village is not to be confused with the East Coast Seafood Village that is a congregation of pricey seafood restaurants. It is a favourite haunt for affordable street food among sea and beach sports enthusiasts, a perfect place for a meal after a tiring afternoon of cycling, rollerblading, swimming, kayaking or sailing.

2011 Pond Life


The 2011 definitives issue has as its main theme "Pond Life" with 14 stamps altogether. All the stamps are found in the Collector's Sheet released on 13 April 2011. Pond life is probably not a common theme for stamp collectors, looking at the individual stamps, one can see a few common themes: flowers, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, and fish.
The 1st and 2nd local stamps featuring the water lily (Nymphaea odorata) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) represent the floral theme; the 1st local stamp is also issued as a self-adhesive stamp in a stamp booklet. The 5c and 55c stamps featuring respectively the white-collared kingfisher (Todirhamphus chloris) and the white-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) cover the avian theme. The reptiles are represented by 50c stamp featuring the black marsh terrapin (Siebenrockiella crassicollis). For the entomologically inclined, there are the diving beetle (Cybister rugosus) on the 20c stamp, the red bolt dragonfly (Rhodothemis rufa) on the 30c stamp, the ornate coraltail damselfly (Ceriagrion cerinorubellum) on the 55c stamp, the water strider (Neogerris parvulus) on the $5 stamp, and the water scorpion (Laccotrephes simulatus) on the $10 stamp. The amphibians are represented by common greenback frog (Rana erythraea) on the 65c stamp and the Asian toad (Bufo melanostictus) on the 80c stamp. The pond wolf spider (Pardosa pseudoannulata) on the $2 stamp represents the arachnids. And finally, the fish enthusiasts has the common tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) on the $1.10 stamp.
The Scott catalogue numbers for this issue are:
1474 5c White-collared kingfisher
1475 20c Diving beetle
1476 1st local Water lily
1477 30c Common redbolt
1478 2nd local Water Hyacinth
1479 45c Ornate coraltail
1480 50c Black marsh terrapin
1481 55c White-breasted waterhen
1482 65c Common greenback
1483 80c Common/Asian toad
1484 $1.10 Common tilapia
1485 $2 Pond Wolf Spider
1486 $5 Water strider
1487 $10 Water scorpion
1487a Collector's sheet
1488 1st local Water lily, self-adhesive (from stamp booklet)
1488a 1st local Water lily stamp booklet

2011-06-12

Scott numbers update for Singapore 2010 stamps

Year of Tiger, 3v 1408-1410
Year of Tiger London 2010 MS 1410a
Year of Tiger Bangkok 2010 MS 1410b
Year of Tiger Collector's Sheet 1411
Year of Tiger 1st local self-adhesive 1412
Anniversaries, 4v 1413-1416
Playgrounds, 6v 1417-1422
Butterflies, 4v 1423-1426
Butterflies 1st local self-adhesive from booklet 1427
Butterflies 1st local self-adhesive booklet pane of 10 1427a
10 Trees - Saga 1428
10 Trees - Raintree 1429
10 Trees - Yellow flame 1430
10 Trees - Tembusu 1431
10 Trees - Angsana 1432
10 Trees - Sea almond 1433
10 Trees - Broad-leafed mahogany 1434
10 Trees - Sea apple 1435
10 Trees - Senegal mahogany 1436
10 Trees - Trumpet tree 1437
10 Trees - self-adhesive booklet pane of 10v 1438
10 Trees - self-adhesive from booklet 10v 1438a-j
Flora - Simpoh air 1439
Flora - Rhododendron 1440
Flora - Simpoh air - self-adhesive from booklet 1441
Flora - Simpoh air - self-adhesive booklet pane of 10 1441a
National Monuments, 6v 1442-1447
National Monuments MS 1448
Youth Olympics Singapore, 4v 1449-1452
Youth Olympics Singapore MyStamp Sheet 1425a
Heritage Trail, Kent Ridge Park strip of 4 1453
Heritage Trail, Kent Ridge Park 4v 1453a-d
Festivals - Chinese New Year 1st local 1454
Festivals - Christmas 1st local 1455
Festivals - Aidil fitri 1st local 1456
Festivals - Deepavali 1st local 1457
Festivals - Chinese New Year 55c 1458
Festivals - Christmas 55c 1459
Festivals - Aidil fitri 55c 1460
Festivals - Deepavali 55c 1461
Festival Collector's Sheet 1462
Festival Collector's Sheet 4x55c 1462a-d
Festival Collector's Sheet 4x$1.10 1462e-h
Festivals - Chinese New Year 1st local self-adhesive from booklet 1463
Festivals - Chinese New Year 1st local booklet pane of 10 1463a
Festivals - Christmas 1st local self-adhesive from booklet 1464
Festivals - Christmas 1st local booklet pane of 10 1464a
Festivals - Aidil fitri 1st local self-adhesive from booklet 1465
Festivals - Aidil fitri 1st local booklet pane of 10 1465a
Festivals - Deepavali 1st local self-adhesive from booklet 1466
Festivals - Deepavali 1st local booklet pane of 10 1466a