Singapore Stamp - 1980 Fujian Junk

This stamp was issued in 1980 and depicts a Fujian Junk ship. The Fujian Junk is a traditional Chinese ship. In fact, there was a Fujian Junk moored in Philippines that was restored by ship restorer Graeme Morris.

Where To Buy Stamps

There are actually many places that one can buy stamps from in Singapore. If you are simply looking for postage stamps to send your letters, you can simply buy it from any post office or a self-service automated machine (SAM). SAMs are conveniently located all around the island and you can find them in shopping malls or at mrt stations. There is a minimum purchase though so one will have to buy quite a few of the postage labels. The ones sold at SAM are usually the adhesive postage labels and I don't think there is much philatelic interest in them even amongst stamp collectors.

If you are looking to buy the traditional kind of postage stamps for collecting, you can always buy it from Singpost's online store which is called VPost. Just search for the link to philatelic and you will be able to browse and buy a great deal of both local and foreign stamps. Delivery charges are pretty cheap and they usually reach my home in 3 working days.

Another source where I buy stamps from is EBay. I have spent lots of money buying postage stamps from EBay and have always received my stamps on time and in order. The prices are bait more steep compared to the actual prices they were originally sold at as the sellers have to make a profit at the end of the day. You can find tons of stamps on EBay and they include both used as well as mint stamps.

I have also heard that some countries even have a system where you can buy stamps online and then print out the postage stamps to use. Now how cool is that?

Singapore Ship Definitives - 1980 Caravel 50 cents

Lately, I have been scanning the various stamps that I have. When I am free, I upload them onto this blog. It is pretty entertaining just to do so and besides, I think people like reading about stamps too since it is a pretty cool hobby where you basically learn a lot more about the things/history/people that is depicted on the various stamps.

The used stamp below was issued in 1980 and depicts a Caravel which is a kind of boat that was used by the Portugese in their exploration. Their speed and agility made it possible for the Portugese to travel down to India and eventually Asia where the spice trade was pretty profitable. Singapore was part of these cross-roads in the spice trade though I don't recall in my history lessons ever reading that it fell to Portugese or Spanish hands.

So the caravel was really an important invention and it did have an impact on the spice trade in Asia.