A discussion of themes found in Singapore postage stamps.

2011-04-19

Perforation error in Singapore 2010 Year of Tiger 1st Local NVI

It is very rare to find major errors in modern Singapore stamp issues. This se-tenant sheet of 10 of the Singapore 2010 Year of Tiger 1st Local NVI stamp containing extra perforation on the right column just appeared on an on-line auction site. This error looks like an outcome of a shifted perforation process; this might mean the existence of another sheet of 10 of the same stamp, which is perforated only on the left column, and has no perforation on the right column!

2011-04-10

Sri Lanka 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games

Sri Lanka released a single stamp on 12 August 2010 to commemorate the 1st YOG (Youth Olympic Games), held in Singapore. The colourful stamp features the official games mascots Merly and Lyo, and icons representing various sports and activities for the games participants.

Bulgaria 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games

Bulgaria released the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games issue on 30 July 2010. The single stamp, with a denomination of 1.40 leva, was issued in sheetlets of 4 stamps, with official sports icons decorating the sheetlet border. The stamp is just illustrated with the official logo of the games, with the silhouettes of runners at the top left corner. The sports represented with icons on the borders are badminton, canoeing, basketball, judo, weightlifting, equestry, rowing, gymnastics, sailing, football (soccer), boxing and athletics. The same sheetlet of 4 is also available in gray-scale, with no denomination on the stamps.

Paraguay 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games

I recently come across this set of Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games issue from Paraguay. The set has 2 stamps, one featuring tennis and the other shows some youth participants of the games. I have not found out the issue date, and would appreciate help from any quarter on this matter.

2011-04-02

Singapore 2011 Centennial of First Flight in Singapore

5 stamps were issued on 16 March 2011 to mark a centenary of the first flight in Singapore. Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane for 12 seconds on 17 December 1903, and in only 7 years and a few months later, on 16 March 2011, Mr Josef Christiaens (1879-1919), Blegian engineer and aviator, took off from the Singapore Farrer Park racecourse in a Bristol Box-Kite biplane! This historical event is featured in the 1st local stamp from this current issue, as well as the commemorative postcard together with the special postmark, released by the Singapore Philatelic Museum. The 45-cent stamp captured the landing of a Fokker F-VIIA at the civilian airport in Seletar on 10 February 1930, this being the first commercial flight from Batavia (now Jakarta) to Singapore. The 65-cent stamp features the Airspeed Consul with Kallang Airport as the background, and the 80-cent stamp features the F-15SG against the backdrop of Paya Lebar Airport. The $1.10 stamp features the Airbus A380 flown by Singapore Airlines, with Changi Airport in the background, Singapore Airlines was the first commercial operator in the world to provide flights on the A380.

Armenia Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Complete Sheet

I finally managed to get hold of a complete sheet of the Armenian issue for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. I had previously implied that the sheet selvage is printed with 14 different sports logos; I was wrong, the actual number of logos printed is 15, but only 11 different sports were represented. The sports so represented are athletics, football (soccer), weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics, rowing, taekwando, water polo, cycling, hockey and tennis.

Singapore 2011 Spirit of Giving

Singapore Post released 2 very large stamps on 24 january, under the theme title of "Spirit of Giving", in conjunction with the 21st IAVE (International Association for Volunteer Effort) World Volunteer Conference. The size of both stamps is 73.8 mm x 76 mm; it would be hardput to find space to stick these stamps onto a regular envelope; the last time a very large stamp was issued was in 2006 with a 98 mm x 66.7 mm $2-stamp marking the first Art Biennale (pronounced as bi-na-le) in Singapore.

Unlike many other countries where stamps in aid of a movement include a surcharge, for this issue a sum of S$0.50 was donated to the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) for the sale of every pre-cancelled first day cover or every presentation pack. The stamp design showcases winning entries of a children art competition organized by th NVPC in 2010.

This set of stamps can be obviously classed under the theme of children's art, there is also a very clear drawing of an elderly woman on a wheelchair in the $2.00 stamp, pointing to the theme of the disabled and the handicapped. Surprisingly, the $1.10 stamp design contains the word "vitagen", a specific brand of cultured milk drink, coupled with the rubric "less sugar". I just wonder if this is free advertisement for Vitagen.