Chung Ling Centenary: A Tour of 3 schools

I guess by now, the dealers and those caught short or their contacts are in Kedah and Johor post offices to take up whatever balance that they might need for the Chung Ling stamp issue. This is a quirky 3 release dates for a single issue.

09 February 2017

My own philatelic holiday started off on 09 February 2017. It was much more leisurely as the stocks could be secure either in Perlis or in Melaka. In fact, Perlis was also sold out as it was taken off by Penangites.

It was a good drive up North with another concordant cover friend. The traffic and weather was great! Even managed to have a decent lunch along the way and saved my biscuits for tomorrow.

Chung Ling was my first stop in Penang.

It was late afternoon but before the arrival of guests for the centenary dinner. The tent was up and the tables all set.

The school had some counters open to sell the centenary souvenirs. I was aiming for the pin, tie-pin and private covers issued by the school for the Folder Set special packs retailing at RM 150. Of course they were all sold out as these are for the alumni.

Here are my goodies: Centenary Pin, Tie-pin, Centenary Booklet and the Centenary paper bag.

Here are the private envelope set which I think looks more like aerogrammes as they are not glued up. A set of 4 envelopes cost RM 8.00. The envelopes feature the Chung Ling High School, Chung Ling Private, Chung Ling Butterworth and a combination of the school bells. A total of 5,000 sets were made for the alumni pack and a balance of about 1,500 pieces were offers for sale for walk-in buyers. I did mention this in my earlier posting, so you did have an advance information.

The is the back of the envelope – looks like an aerogramme right? I wonder how many of the readers remember and aerogramme!

The “official” private covers fit nicely for the 3 stamps and a miniature sheet. In fact a team of students were mobilized to fold up the “aerogramme”.

It was then off to souvenir shopping and checking out the hawker areas for nice Penang dinner!

10 February 2010

Rise and shine Butterworth! Butterworth still retained much of the old charm of the yesteryears. The sampans are still used at the Shell Terminal near the Butterworth Jetty.

The queue in the Butterworth Post Office was big but not as intense as the General Post Office in Penang. Queue numbers are given out and everyone can sit comfortably to wait for their turn, except, almost everyone is excited to get their hands on the items that they crowd around the sales counter. It would be better if they learn to sit and wait for the queue numbers like in KL but then this is Penang.

The process in Butterworth Post Office was so much more orderly than GPO Penang where snaking lines block part of the post office. No queue number system is used in GPO Penang. Maybe something to consider to provide comfort and order during a “hot” issue.

Then it was a visit to Chung Ling Butterworth. Notice the bell?

It was then back to Chung Ling School, as I by-pass GPO Penang and to avoid the traffic for the return of the Thaipusam Chariots. The stop was Chung Ling School and Chung Ling Private. It would be a waste not to visit the schools after having come so far.

On completion of my pilgrimage to the 3 schools, it was the last stop at GPO Penang where the queue to chop was just as terrible. It was again held up a stamp society with a box of covers to cancel. I think it is nice to make for members but if the covers are only cancelled in Penang, it would be no different than those in the Standing Order Deposit Account (SODA) whereby SODA members will also get the Penang cancellation PLUS the stamp on FDC are in the unreleased setenant format! The stamp society should at least obtain a Pulau Pinang cancellation on 85 sen and 95 sen and a Butterworth cancellation on the RM 1.05 sen. This will be the most basic concordancy for a FDC and give added value to the members. Think about it.

Once the 3 stamps society members left, the queue was again flowing. The GPO Penang and Butterworth post office extended the closing hour beyond 05:30 pm to cater to the large number of buyers!

I urge Pos Malaysia to consider preparing more than 1 postmark for the post office where the bulk of the buyers will go. In this case, “Pulau Pinang” should have 2 postmarking station. One of the station for bulk cancellation and another for the casual collectors. This way it would be more productive for everyone.

The Philatelic Holiday concluded here and it was time to head back home. This time back by 10:45 pm, much better than previous midnights.

Suggestions:

1. Stamp societies: contact Pos Malaysia to make arrangements for orders and postmarking if you are only aiming for one chop.
2. Pos Malaysia: prepare more chops during issues with special events.
3. Concordant makers: plan your routing first, clashing events, local traffic knowledge, before you head off. Bring biscuits, water and such as you might not have enough time to cover all you want to do in a day.

Stock status:

1. Penang, Perlis, most of northern Perak were all sold out – they were taken up by the Penangites.
2. KL GPO was sold out.
3. Shah Alam had stamps left.
4. Seremban’s covers were sold out by 10 am.

It would be interesting to see how is the response in Kedah and Johor. If anyone has additional information in your location, feel free to share with other readers.

I predict Kedah will sell out as it is far too near Penang.

Another piece of good news is that collectors in Penang reported that GPO Penang allowed the extension of use of the canceller this morning due to the huge crowd. This cannot be independently verified. In any case, this is a good gesture.

Oh yes, for the official announcement on the quantities issued: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/10/postal-accolade-for-100yearold-school-countrys-oldest-chinese-school-honoured-with-stamps-and-first/

Excerpt: “Pos Malaysia Group CEO Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the stamps, first day cover, miniature sheets and folders are limited to 238,500 pieces, 45,000 pieces, 38,500 pieces and 7,900 pieces respectively.”

There are two more potential epic philatelic tours this year. I will keep you posted.

Good luck!

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