Impressions at a stamp exhibition – my stamp story

Walking through the rows of old stamps at the 20th Asian International Stamp Exhibition in Bangkok at the Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon, 3 – 12 August 2007, flooded my mind with a mix of memories. I recalled momentous events in the last century that affected our lives, the rise and fall of great empires, some of which have occurred in my lifetime. These were some of the old stamps and envelopes that caught my attention. These are their stories.

The first stamps for the world and Thailand

England's Penny Black, the first stamp in the world, was issued in 1840 in the reign of Queen Victoria at the height of the British Empire. The demise of the Empire came a century later, when Japan shattered Britain's invincibility.

In 1883, in the reign of King Rama V the first Thai stamp Solot, named after the old currency, was issued. The postal service was one of the many reforms in the Chakri Reformation during the Fifth Reign.

These two seemingly simple events changed the lives of millions in the years to come.

Letters from the war front

Chinese military mail during the Sino-Japanese War 1894 – 1895, a long forgotten war, was a harbinger of worse to come. In the following century, Japan invaded China in the 1930s and South East Asia in the 1940s. Born after the war, I was spared the horrors of Japanese occupation. My grandparents and parents weren't so lucky.

Letter from Mafeking

Lord Baden Powell's letter from Mafeking brought back pleasant Boy Scout memories, the outdoor adventures and the wholesome values imbued by the international Scouting movement.

Letter from Sungei Golok to Paris

Narathiwat is the southern province in Thailand, adjacent to the Malaysian state of Kelantan. It's also currently gripped in a Muslim insurgency. Who could have sent that letter from Sungei Golok, an obscure little town in Narathiwat, to Paris in 1936?

The coronation

The first day cover for the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II reminds me of my mother. She still treasures the crockery set commemorating the event in 1953, that's proudly displayed in her showcase at home.

The East is red

The red stamps of China's Cultural Revolution were reminiscent of a turbulent age; the anti-colonial struggles in South East Asia during the 50s, the Communist insurgencies in the 60s and the climax of the Vietnam War in the 70s. We shuddered when the Vietnamese marched into Phnom Penh in 1976 after the killing fields of the murderous Khmer Rouge. By then, the fanaticism of Mao's Red Guards paled in comparison.

Tribute to a great warrior

Mongolia's Genghis Khan resurrected images of the great warrior, in my school books, whose Empire stretched from Beijing to the Caspian Sea and the Danube as his horsemen rattled the gates of Eastern Europe. His military feats have been unsurpassed since.

These were the images that caught my eye, images of men and women whose actions moved the lives of millions around the world. Stamps tell different stories through different eyes. Take a journey through the history of stamps and find out, what's your story?

This article first appeared in Bangkok legacies blog entry dated 9 August 2007 where photos of the stamp collections are available.