The ASEAN Community Joint Issue 2015

After months of collecting and waiting, the 10 Nations FDCs are finally in place! All in 12 official FDCs from 10 nations! What gives? Read on….

This issue is perhaps the most fascinating in terms of the variety (even though it is supposed to be a single stamp issue) and the diverse products by some postal authorities. Here is a short review.

Malaysia and Cambodia are probably the most thrifty in terms of the number of products issued. Just 1 FDC!

Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam released 10 nations packs.

The Thailand pack of 10 is probably the hardest to get since it was not released widely. It was sold to Thailand Stamps Account Holders that crosses a minimum threshold during Thaipex 2015!

Thailand also issued a miniature sheet.

Which fitted well to make a combination FDC!

Vietnam issued 3 types of 10 nations packs! There is a light version, medium version and a coffeebook type version!

Philippines issued 10 nations in a strip of plastic!

Brunei did the same 10 nations pack in a folder and added a booklet of a single stamp!

They even produced a 10 nations stamps on FDC and cancelled the stamps with Brunei’s official cancellation!

Laos and Myanmar had no news of 10 nations packs.

However Laos produced a Perforate and Imperforated MS pairs.

Myanmar issued and additional 100 Kyat stamp which was not included in any of the 10 nations stamp packs.

Vietnam by far has the largest variety of products. In addition to the 10 nations stamp pack, they issued a postcard, stamp booklet, Specimen stamps and Imperforate stamps in sheetlets of 10. The Specimen stamps also came in sheets of 20.

Thus there were also FDCs for Specimen and Imperforate pairs! This explains why 10 nations came up to 12 FDCs!

Vietnam also went on to make a 10 nations stamps on Vietnam official envelope with cancellations from the original design – making this unique! Think of it as unreleased cancellations issued in another country!

In addition, this series also saw some errors:

1. Malaysia – map error in the Malaysia FDC leaflet (accidental inclusion of Papua New Guinea)

2. Singapore – spelling error of Malaysia which was misspelt as Malayia

3. Laos – Malaysia flag error with extra stripe (15 stripes versus the actual 14 stripes)

Summary

The products are:

1. Malaysia – FDC, Sheet of 20 stamps, 10 nations pack (released in 2016)
2. Cambodia – FDC, Sheet of 20 stamps
3. Singapore – FDC, Sheet of 10 stamps, 10 nations pack
4. Indonesia – FDC, Sheet of 20 stamps, 10 nations pack
5. Brunei – FDC, Sheet of 20 stamps, 10 nations pack, booklet, 10 nations on FDC using Brunei cancellation
6. Philippines – FDC, Sheet of 100 stamps, 10 nations stamps not in pack
7. Myanmar – FDC, Sheet of 100 stamps 2 values of 100 Kyat and 500 Kyat
8. Laos – FDC, Sheet of 20 stamps, Miniature Sheet (Perforate and Imperforate pair)
9. Thailand – FDC, Sheet of 10 stamps, Miniature Sheet, 10 nations pack
10. Vietnam – FDCs, Sheet of 20 stamps (normal and Specimen), Sheet of 10 stamps (normal, Specimen and Impeforate), Postcard, 10 nations pack (3 types)

The interesting items to look out for are:

1. Malaysia – Putrajaya cancellation (ASEAN Chairmanship location), map error in the leaflet
2. Cambodia – nil
3. Singapore – spelling error of Malaysia (Malayia)
4. Indonesia – nil
5. Brunei – nil
6. Philippines – nil
7. Myanmar – 100 Kyat stamp
8. Laos – Malaysian Flag error on MS and on FDC envelope, envelopes with earlier than 08 August release dates
9. Thailand – special postmarks and release day cancellations in Thaipex, Thailand product designer signed FDC, very limited Thailand 10 nations pack
10. Vietnam – designer signed FDC

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