Postmark in Wrong Use

This is a cover which I believe most casual observers would simply throw away. Only one stamp on it, it is a definitive - boring and most of all, damaged.

Look closer before you send it to landfill. For this cover, the postmark has made it unusual.

It is a "PHNOM PENH RP CAMBODGE" postmark, all in French. "RP" is the acronym of "Recette Principale", the main post office of a city or an area, in here refers to the Phnom Penh Central Post Office. "COA" is "Courrier Ordinaire Arrivée". This "COA" postmark is meant for incoming ordinary mail, it is an arrival postmark.

Now you are enlightened. This cover is an outgoing mail, "COA" should not have been on it. "COD", "Courrier Ordinaire Depart" is the right postmark for outgoing ordinary mail.

The reason for this mistake is unknown. So far I have only seen one more sample of such mistake, it is a stampless official cover from the Department of Posts.

Bogus Princess Diana

On 15th December 1997 Cambodia issued a sheetlet of 8 stamps plus 1 label in remembrance of the deceased Princess Diana, and highlighted her influential role in supporting the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Cambodia suffers one of the worst landmine problems in the world. Every year hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians are injured or killed by landmines, many of them are just innocent young people. Landmines do not only bring casualties, they occupy habitable land, farms and water resources, which ultimately hinder the country's social development and economic recovery.

Side product of this issue is a set of 3 official FDC of the 8 stamps.

Bogus printers never miss a chance to make filthy lucre. Bogus Diana stamps emerge soon when the world mourned.

In Europe there are dealers carrying a set of 8 épreuves de luxe (deluxe sheets), and a stamp in sheetlet of 9. The épreuves de luxe have the same design as the authentic Diana stamps, while the individual stamp has a "new" design. To make the sheetlet look sophisticated, logo of CMAC (Cambodian Mine Action Centre) is on the selvedge of the sheetlet.

Filthy labels.

Mail at Your Risk

In Cambodia, if you choose to send letters or parcels at a post office, it is a big challenge.

Post offices may not open. Postal clerks may not be ready to serve you. You may be randomly charged. Stamps may not be at face value. Your mail may end up in the dustbin rather than be delivered, and if it is to deliver, the service can be at tortoise pace. The situation is a bit better if you are local Khmer (accent tells). For foreigners, prayers may help.

Low rank civil servants in Cambodia have salary which is difficult to support basic living. As a result public service users have to "contribute". Although there is a postage rate table at Phnom Penh CPO, the postal clerks charge at their mercy. Amazing enough, they don't always overcharge, once in a while they undercharge!! Maybe some happy-hour rates there.

Phnom Penh is the mail hub of this "Kingdom of Wonder". Other than in-town delivery, all mail, both domestic and international, have to be sent to Phnom Penh first, then dispatched to their destination. Flying in and out of the capital is wonderfully frequent, but travelling within the country can be wonderfully slow, it depends on the mood of postal clerks, and depends on the condition of road network which deteriorates badly in rain seasons.

This is a fair reason why Cambodians prefer telephone or private express shipping companies. Intra-town mail of private correspondence is getting less, within town is unheard of.

A Briton blogger, Michelle, has shared with us her adventure at Phnom Penh CPO, please click here for story.

The featured cover is a beautiful 1993 philatelic mail from Cambodia to USA. It was the time when the country name changed from "Kampuchea" back to "Cambodia". The old "Kampuchea" postmarks went obsoleted, the new "Cambodge" postmarks were not ready, so this pre-1975 postmark only with city name and no country name was just right for the duty. It was heavily used in 1994 and 1995.

Handicap International

While a standard airmail letter from Phnom Penh to Hongkong costs 2300r, this only takes 1000r to Paris. It has a story to tell.

The letter was sent under the umbrella of Handicap International.

Handicap International is a Europe based non-governmental organization (NGO) set up in 1982. Initially they provided help in refugee camps in Cambodia and Thailand, now they focus their work on Cambodian disabled people welfare, AIDS fight, landmine clearance and proverty elimination. Outside Cambodia, the organization has a supporting network for the disabled worldwide.

If such is not impressive to you, you may like to realize that Handicap International is one of the six founding members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The Campaign gained hearty support from Diana, Princess of Wales, and in the same year when she perished the Campaign won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2007 Cambodia Post launched a 2v set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Handicap International services. Long before this, the organization already worked close with different government ministries, including the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications. To lower the organization's operational cost, an honourable agreement was made that mail under the organization's name enjoy bulk mail rate.

The postal used cover shown is franked with a 1000r from the Handicap International set. The back of the envelope is imprinted "Handicap International" in blue, this gives a coincident that a Handicap International mail franked with a Handicap International themed stamp.

Handicap International takes up the largest volume of bulk mail in Cambodia. Most Handicap International mail are to Europe, it is very easy to find covers from Phnom Penh to European distinations at minimal postage, they are Handicap International bulk mail despite they may not bear the name of organisation.

Private FDCs

Two first day covers (FDC) of 1984 Flowers 7v set.

Some Victorian era philatelists would tell you, such kind of pictorials and FDCs are worthless. Well, the first official FDC is quite common, but not the second, it is a private FDC. The stamp set is tied by an authentic Phnom Penh Central Post Office (CPO) regular postmark, you can compare this with the fake private FDC I posted on 11th June, titled "Fake First Day Collectables".

In 1980s, Cambodians were still suffering from the after shock of Khmer Rouge terror. The country was closed off, the people were penniless. Basically no locals had spare time and dough for hobbies like stamp collecting. Only a very small number of foreigners, mostly aiders from the Soviet Bloc, would care about stamps as souvenirs.

I have tried to trace the premier owner of this private FDC, but failed. I acquired from a Singaporean private collector who bought from an Australian dealer. The clue stopped there.

Fake First Day Collectables

Two FDCs of the 1983 "4th Anniversary of Liberation" set.

The first one is a fake, the latter one is an authentic FDC, and it is an official one.

The tricky thing about the fake one is that, it looks like a private FDC. Inexperienced collectors may be fooled if they have no knowledge on postmark types. The French "CAMBODGE" type did not exist until mid 1990s, it is impossible to be on a 1983 cover.

This is the postmark type used by the Phnom Penh Central Post Office throughout 1980s, the country name was "KAMPUCHEA" then:

Private FDCs of 1980s would only bear such cancellation type or the pre-1975 "Phnom Penh RP" with no country name type.

Unsophisticatedly fake creators has been making a handsome variety of fake first day collectables cancelled with the "Cambodge RP2" postmark which has been exclusively available at the philatelic counter. The counter staffs are more than happy to back-date the postmark upon request with a little bribe.

Don't take it for granted that only valuable and rare stuffs have counterfeits. The less popular and less explored post1979 Cambodia have fakes too.

The Silver Pagoda

What shown in this card is Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morakot (literally the Holy Emerald Temple), more commonly known to tourists as the Silver Pagoda. It is located next to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh to serve as the royal wat.

The splendid silver floored temple now houses a 17th century emerald Buddha image, and in front of it is the Maitreya Buddha commissioned by HM King Sisowath. The Maitreya Buddha is in royal regalia with 2086 diamonds including a 25 caret diamond in the crown and a 20 caret diamond embedded in the chest (ohh mon dieu!!!). This is a black and white photograph of the Buddha image taken in the 1930s.



It is notable that, the 1994 "45th Anniversary of Cambodia's Admission to UPU" 200r stamp on this maxicard is tied by the rubber postmark mentioned in my very first blog posting. The postmark is bi-coloured, date in red and the rest blue.

Laotian Olympic Team Flight

Back in the 4th century BC, the book "Analects of Confucius" recorded that Confucius praised a deceased scholar named Kung-yu.

Kung-yu was honoured with the posthumous title "Wen Gong" (means "honourable master of broad knowledge"). Confucius' doubting students and some other people argued that there were many scholars more senior and more knowledgable than Kung-yu, it was not appropriate to pay such high respect to Kung-yu.

The Great Master then explained that Kung-yu had truly lived up to the honour, because he was "very willing to learn humbly, not ashamed to consult those who supposed to be less knowledgable, and not ashamed to learn from his subordinates".

Now back to the modern world. The Indo-China Philatelist (ICP) is the official journal of the Society of Indo-China Philatelists (SICP). In ICP #187, which published in March 2009, there shows an interesting cover. Nothing Cambodia, it is a beautiful aerogramme from Laos.

In the journal, it reads:

"Richard Aspnes, SICP President and specialist in commemorative markings from Laos, had not previously seen this marking, but he has some knowledge of classical Chinese writing. Even if the name of the addressee is written in simplified Chinese, Richard can say that the aerogramme is addressed to the Olympic village."

I almost smell the knowledge and wisdom.

It is actually a plain and simple residential address - the addessee Mr Huang's own home in Changping, a northwest suburb of Beijing. Mr Huang is a Chinese philatelist who is keen on Beijing Olympic items. It has nothing to do with the Olympic Village, the address does not bear the word "Olympic" at all.

There are Chinese members in SICP, why not ask? Why "you think you know", Mr President ?

Once the journal was out, I contacted ICP's editor, Ron Bentley. No response given, all silent.

Wallpaper or Treasure?

After the four year Khmer Rouge break, in 1980 Cambodia once again issued postage stamps. For the next two decades, most Cambodian stamps were designed, printed and marketed by the Cuban stamp producing company - COPREFIL.

COPREFIL has been the official stamp producer of Benin, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, Guinea, Laos and some other third world countries. COPREFIL pictorials share the problem of what all those agency-produced stamps encountered, they are widely considered "wallpaper" by serious collectors. Complaints include sales oriented themes, considerable printing quantity and rare postal use.

Well, wallpaper can be something. Tannu Touva (Tuva) is a classic example, Tuvan pictorials were cereal box freebies in the 1930s, now they are much sought after!

It is undeniable that themes like dogs and cars and chess flood, sadly they make you overlook those Cambodian related issues. Below is the "Khmer Culture" series 1996 set. It features Khmer dance masks, very cultural, very delightful.

I hope you didn't miss out épreuves de luxe, errors and proofs. Some stamp sets and souvenir sheets have imperforates. Never made available by Cambodia Post, they are likely to be proofs sneaked from COPREFIL. It is a challenge to collect them all. Below is a block of 4 uncut proof of the 1994 "80th Anniversary of the 1st Fly Performed by a Multimotor Plane" souvenir sheet. Print run of the souvenir sheet is only 39,150.

From time to time there are non-COPREFIL sets. Without sales agencies, generally they are not available to overseas collectors in mint and consequently scarcity turns them into high priced sets. In 1989 there came a Vietnamese printed 4v set showing 3 stone carved Asparas. The garish set has high face value for international mail, it is very easy to come by on covers, but not often seen in MNH.

In 1993, a 3v set was scheduled to mark the 40th anniversary of national independence. As COPREFIL shipped some of the stock to Cambodia for domestic use, suspiciously it was reported stolen during transit which forced Cambodia to declare the set illegal. Russia made a quick move of producing a new 3v set and presented to Cambodia as a gift. The new stamps share a same design of Angkor Wat, the proud national symbol. This set was only available in Cambodia, while the stolen set was only available outside Cambodia.

Inflation and shortage of stamps has forced Cambodia surcharge some of her old stock. The first surcharges appeared in 1986, more were made in 1991. Now they are gems.

Last of all, quantity sometimes suprises you in a nice way. Print run fuctuates. Usually it is below 200,000 while sometimes drops as low as the 1997 Heinrich Von Stephan set of 10,350.

Cambodian stamps give endless pleasure if you know how to appreciate them. In my future blog entries, you will be showed the unjustly neglected post 1979 Cambodian philately is much much more than a pile of pretty pictorials.

2001 80th Birth Anniversary of HM King Sihanouk

My very first blog entry is on the 80th Birth Anniversary of King Norodom Sihanouk set.

The lavish stamp set was issued on 31st October 2001 as the last issue of the year, and as the first issue after the contract between Cambodia and COPREFIL, the Cuban state owned stamp printer ended. With a total of 13 values, by far it is the largest set since Cambodia re-established her postal system in 1980.

HRH Norodom Sihanouk was reinstated as the king of Cambodia in 1993, he abdicted in October 2004 because of ill health. The set features images taken in different stages of the King's life.

Print run is unknown. There is no official FDC made for this issue, but it has a commemorative cachet showing the king's portrait above the inscription "1921-2001" for stamping. The cachet colour can be red, blue or black, all depends on the ink pad used by the postal clerk. Below is a private cover cancelled by this cachet. A cachet is not a postmark, so this CANNOT be regarded as a FDC.

The FDC shown at the very top of this page is private made. The eye catching postmarks on this FDC are not the conventional "CAMBODGE" metallic in French used at that time. This is a rubber postmark in English with a 3cm diameter.

During the UNTAC era (1992-1993), many UN officers requested for philatelic souvenirs at Phnom Penh Central Post Office (CPO). Unfortunately all those metallic postmarks at the desk were too worn for philatelic cancellation, therefore a rubber postmark was made and put into service at the CPO philatelic counter. So far I can find only very few samples of this rubber postmark on authentic non-philatelic commerical mail.

More than one rubber postmark existed at Phnom Penh CPO. The one on this FDC has 1mm space between the English letters and the big circular edge. To my observation so far, since 2003 the CPO has used another one with that spacing less than 1mm, letter and number fonts have boosted as well. There may have earlier samples of it, further research is needed.

This rubber postmark resembles the English postmark "PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA" with postcode 12000 which came into daily use in late 2006. The most significant difference between the two is, the Khmer letters on rubber postmark are more distant while those on metallic postmark are more compact, and metallic postmark bears postcode 12000 but the rubber one never.

Interesting enough, Phnom Penh CPO is not the only post office with postmarks in such format. In my collection there is a cover from Poipet (a town at the Khmer-Thai border) to Germany with an English postmark of the same type. The postmark measures 2.6cm in diameter, the date font is exactly the same as the Phnom Penh CPO large font rubber postmark.