Updated 10 December 2017: Cities and Bricks

Day 1: 04 December 2017

Team A: The day started again in another city. This time in Melaka (Malacca). 04 December 2017 saw the sale of 2 stamp issues. In order of priority for the timing and concordancy, Straits Settlements takes precedence. As a back-up, Team B and Team C are also in place.

Melaka GPO was rather quiet with less than a handful of collectors at 8:00 am.

I took the decision to start from Melaka as Penang has proven to be a futile queue in all aspects to be able to buy anything in a decent time. Thus it would be a safer bet down south. This proved to be right again. There were ample stocks to go around. The situation was different in Penang, where the Straits Settlements Miniature Sheets were all snapped up. Again another sell out or stock imbalance? There were plenty in KL.

Even though the queue was short in Melaka, the going was extremely slow and that caused a set back in the plans. This required improvisation: no lunch again! I did not anticipate this and I did not have my air-sandwiches nor biscuits. It does not pay to be unprepared. An hour’s lunch will sink the project. Time to tighten my belt and munch on whatever I have left in my bag.

The drive up north was punctuated with frequent road works with only one lane open to traffic. I was rather fortunate as the queue was in the opposite direction. It would have been a disaster had the traffic congestion been on the drive north.

Team B: It is time to visit Legoland. Legoland is situated in Nusajaya near Johor Bahru in the state of Johor. It would be great to get a match for this issue.

Team C: Meanwhile back in GPO KL, the queue was building up. The designer for the Straits Settlements issue, Mr KY Lim, came as usual to autograph. However, Stamp Week designer was not present. 2 Stamp Week Setemku (Personalised Stamp) were also released.

Philatelic Society of Malaysia (PSM) produced a set of 3 postcards and a special commemorative cachet for the event.

Today also saw the release of the Setenant Sheet sales programme. One type of setenant sheet per day!

An exhibition on the Straits Settlements was also held in Dewan Sri Pos.

Back to the long journey, I finally reached Penang under a slight drizzle after 4:30 pm.

Did you know that the Penang General Post Office is in Downing Street (now known as Lebuh Downing)? What is the significance of Downing Street?

The queue for the postmark was light this time. Perhaps due to no more Miniature Sheets. A few were calling up their friends in Kuala Lumpur to get more stocks.

It was then time to return to Kuala Lumpur. It was raining as I approached Changkat Jering. It was only a few weeks back that I drive the same circuit back from Changkat Jering for the Tourist Destinations issue! This philatelic tour will be another 1000 km trip over 16 hours and 2 cities!

That brings me to bricks! Yes cities are build on bricks! So does Lego City!

This year’s Stamp Week uses the LEGOLAND characters as the base design. The design is attractive and fits the Lego feel. Fans of Lego should know. It is supposed to be the first official LEGOLAND (them park) stamps in the world!

As usual the General Post Office hall was turned into a sales area.

Surprisingly this year saw the participation of Cambodia Post! Cambodia Post brought a lot of mint stamps and very old Miniature Sheets. Of notable interest is the 50 Years ASEAN items. However, Cambodia Post only brought mint stamps! It was a big disappointment. Cambodia Post provided a cachet for the Stamp Week.

Day 2: 05 December 2017

Today is the launch of the 150 Years Straits Settlements Coffee Table Book by the Deputy Minister Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Jailani Johari. Also present were Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh, Pos Malaysia’s Group Chief Executive and Dato’ Anua Bashah, PSM President. Here is Dato’ Anuar in a questions and answers session on Straits Settlements.

Here are preview images of the coffee table book. It is not for sale at the moment.

The MRT setenant strip was on sales this morning. The initial response was lukewarm. However just before 10:00 am, the MRT setenants were sold out! This prompted Post Malaysia to bring out the Community Postman (World Post Day 2016) setenant stamps! The Pos Silang setenants were still available.

Meanwhile, Cambodia Post closed early after half a day. The designer for the Stamp Week was also spotted by a collector who managed to get her autograph late in the afternoon.

A Christmas and New Year 2018 Setemku was also released today! As usual, I made Setemku FDCs, this time with the Stamp Week 05 December 2017 pictorial cancellation, Stamp Week cachet and the circular date stamp.

Here is the completed 150 Years Straits Settlements FDC!

Day 3: 06 December 2017

Today’s Setenant sheet on Batik Malaysia was limited to 5 sheets per person. It was sold out by 09:30 am.

Shortly thereafter the Pertabalan Sultan Perak Premium Sheets were also sold out (this was less popular as most of the collectors already bought earlier).

After 10:00 am, older setenant sheets released previously were offered for sale.

At the hall, only 3 dealers were in attendance. Comabodia Post packed up at around mid-day yesterday. Thus it was rather quiet.

Day 4: 07 December 2017

Today’s setenant was ample to go around. News got around that there were Agro Definitive Cancelled to Order (CTO) booklets on sale. It was probably the exciting item of the day. Seen were also more 15 sen Agro Definitive of various states.

Day 5: 08 December 2017

Today’s setenant was Battle Site and each person was limited to only 2 sheets. It was very quickly snapped up. Pos Malaysia then released the 7 Wonders of Malaysia’s Flora and Fauna (remember the Zoo Negara issue?), also with a limit of 2 per person. Again, this was very quickly snapped up. Thus the whole morning’s action ended before 09:30 am! The Reign of the XIV YDPA setenants were then released again.

Only 3 dealers were present at the hall. It was a rather quiet day.

Day 6: 09 December 2017

The penultimate day! Seems that we are used the marathon Stamp Week. In reality the action is on the first and last day – every year.

Today, most of us were caught off guard as the routine was to arrive at 08:00 am and wait for the Bureau to open! But alas, today is a weekend, and the Bureau opens at 09:30 am! Well, time for breakfast and more chatting.

Today’ setenant on Indian Festival Food was plenty to go around. The action fizzled out at 10:00 am when everyone got what they wanted.

The Postcrossing Meetup was organised in Dewan Sri Pos on the 3rd Floor of the General Post Office. Two designs of the Postcrossing Meetup postcards were available to Postcrossers who booked earlier.

2 dealers brought most of their stocks up north to a stamp fair in Penang.

Day 7: 10 December 2017

Finally the last day! Today Team A, B and C will meet and complete the project.

News got around that there were sufficient Stamp Week 2017 setenants, thus the queue was only starting to form at 09:00 am. That coupled with the information that the Bureau will only open at 09:30 am!

Here is the scene on opening bell:

The larger turnout was for the complete cancellations. Since this is the last day, the earlier cancellations (chop) were quite worn. I suggest Pos Malaysia to just leave those days that has passed for cancellation rather than go through the motion of having a large crowd on a few tables. This would be more efficient as it reduces the time spent on the last day and we can check out the dealer’s in attendance. Here is the scene close to noon.

The rain came in the early part of the afternoon and the cancellation station was moved indoors to the Philatelic Bureau foyer. This made the place rather cramped and warm as the air-condition was off.

Overall this issue was well received mainly due to “Lego”.

Here are my creations:

1. Setenant strip (which was sold on the last day) on cover.

2. Setenant strip on Legoland Hotel official cover.

3. Setemku version on cover. There is sufficient space to put the Cambodia Post cachet.

4. Cambodia Post with official cachet on cover.

If you are interested in any of the items, just drop me a message (including the FDCs). Sorry, no Batiks, no Battle Site and no 7 Wonders of Flora and Fauna Setenants.

Thank you for reading myfdc this week. We bring validated information to support our mutual hobby.

myfdc will be on vacation mode from end of this week. Messages and enquiries will still be replied….maybe at a slower pace. The next issue will still be featured. However there will not be any reporting of the day of issue unless some of you can assist me by sending me photos and a narrative of the event. Acknowledgements will be given unless privacy is requested.

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Acknowledgement: NH and KKK for their inputs into the article for Day 1.