Brunei $1 2008

I came across the 2008 $1 note during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (the Muslim festival to mark the end of the fasting month). During this month, many families give out money to the children who come visiting their houses. What I did not realise was that the 2008 is new as the ones before this was the 1996 and the 2007 series. It took an email from my friend Kai before I realised that I got the 2008 series.

Anyway, here is the scan of the 2008 Brunei $1. The note remained the same except with this 2008 printed at the obverse of the note.

Singapore $50 1990

I bumped into one of my junior colleagues at MOF yesterday. I was there defending my ministry's budget request for the next financial year. He told me that he had something that I might be interested in. He showed me a $1,000 worth of $50 Singapore notes.

I already had a few of these notes. I was quite surprised that he had 20 pieces of them. My colleague travelled frequently but even then I was surprised that he had managed to collect about 20 pieces of these notes. They are not rare but certainly you don't find them laying about. He asked me how much they are worth. Used notes are difficult to judge so I can't answer him. He said that someone offered to buy each note for $55. I thought that was a bit cheap but they are used. Anyway to cut a long story short I got a few of those notes. Who knows when I will see 20 of them again in the future.

These Singapore notes I think were the first time that Singapore forayed into the polymer notes. It was certainly an experiment back in 1990 for them. The notes were issued to commemorate Singapore's 25th Anniversary of their independence.

Brunei $5 1989 Second Series

Every now and then, good luck happens. My nephew, a branch manager with one of the banks in Brunei called me up and said that one customer deposited $185 worth of the above notes. He did not the value, all he said was, paper notes with white borders. That perked me up. White borders means either the 1st series or 2nd series Brunei notes.

Apparently the customer's father had been keeping this money under his bed or pillows or something like that. He was worried that the money might be lost and he had decided to deposit it into his dad's account. What a dutiful son.

The amazing thing was that almost all of the notes were in AUNC condition (Almost Uncirculated which means looking very unused to people not in the numismatic jargon). Anyway, I rushed over and exchanged brand new notes for these old notes. I could not believe my luck in my collection this last two months. Last month, I got about $3,000 worth of 1990s paper notes. This month, not as much, but equally or more valuable, the 2nd series.

How much is this worth if it was in the market? For a pure UNC, it might be worth ten times its face value. For each $5 notes first issued in 1981, if I am not mistaken, you probably, if you find a buyer, sell it for $50. Though this one is not as valuable. Issued in 1989, probably worth around 4 times its face value. Still it is a good 2nd series collection and I am glad for my good luck this Hari Raya.

Unattainable Wish

If someone was to ask me what is it that you want? There are many things that many of us want and I too have my own wants. But I am pretty much satisfied with the Al-Mighty's gifts.

However philatelically, there is something I want the most. That one is this Brunei's stamp during the Japanese Occupation in the second World War. During the War, the Japanese overprinted Brunei's stamps with their Imperial Japanese mark and used these stamps. These stamps are all highly valued because not many were available due to the fact that not many people were sending out letters during the War - the Allied (British, Australians etc) were captured and who on earth were the then Brunei people want to write to?

The most expensive of all the overprinted Brunei is this one. This 1 cent stamp overprinted for $3 payment for telegraphic use is valued at about $12,0000 to $15,000 today! Get hold of one and you can live quite happily to the end of days. However, I acquired this stamp recently. And most of you readers are thinking WoW!

Unfortunately this is not the real McCoy. This is a fake and I paid pittance for it. Relatively speaking pittance but even fakes still cost a fair bit. If ever you find an original one hidden somewhere in your grandfatherh's stamp collection that looks almost like this or better than this and want to know who will pay good money for it, let me know. I can't offer $12,000 but let me know, we can work out a new price.

Brunei $100 4th Series 1996

The other day my sister called me up. She said they came across someone depositing paper notes. Every now and then I had been asking her whether paper notes have come in. This time I struck lucky. 8 of these notes came in and I was very lucky. Their condition was almost AUNC. You can't get any better than that.

Anyway, I am posting the notes, so you can see for youself what they are.

Hari Raya Stamps

We will be celebrating the end of the fasting month soon. In Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, the festival would be known as Hari Raya Eid Fitri. Most other countries would just say celebrating the Eid Fitr. Surprisingly, I don't ever remember seeing any stamps produced specifically for the celebrations by any of the Muslim countries. So, I was pleasantly surprised to receive these two sets of stamps from my good friend, Kai in Australia. He sent me these stamps which came from his own personal collection and hoped that these would come at the right time. Yes indeed Kai! The stamps came in time for the Hari Raya celebrations.


The first set is from Christmas Islands. I checked and found out that these stamps were issued in 1989.


The second set is from Keeling or Cocos Islands and these were issued in 1991.

Thank you Kai! And Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to you...

Brunei $25 1992

Every now and then, I come across this $25 paper money. Recently my sister managed to get a few pieces for me. I had a few but my stocks dwindled down when I left MOF one and a half year ago.

This $25 note was issued to commemorate His Majesty's 25th Anniversary of ascending the throne in 1992. His Majesty ascended the throne in 1967 when his father, Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddin Saadul Khairi Waddien abdicated the throne.

On the front of the note, you can see the royal chariot which was used by His Majesty during his coronation as the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in 1968. The chariot is the master show at the Royal Regalia Museum in Bandar. At the back of the note, you can see His Majesty being crowned by his father.

This $25 note is worth around US$30 for uncirculated notes.

Australian Space Stamps

My sister bought this for me at an auction for my birthday present. The miniature sheet and a set of stamps came together in one nice presentation package with the word Space on the front cover and a detailed explanation of Mars statistics. I was not sure which year this is as I don't collect Australian stamps either. When I heard the price, I thought she overpaid for it but then it was for charity, so I guess it is okay.

Anyway, I checked the stamps out. It was issued in 2000 but I am not sure what the occasion was. If there is anyone out there who can tell me more about these stamps, I would be most happy to hear from you.

Brunei $50 Begawan Series 1967

Yesterday, I managed to get two of the above notes. The Begawan Series or the 1967 Brunei First Modern Series is still a favourite among collectors. Issued in 1967, it marked the first time that Brunei issued its own currency by its own Currency Board. Prior to that, Brunei currency notes were issued by the Straits Settlements Government and the Malaya-Borneo Board of Currencies.

The $50 Begawan Series are rarely available in the numismatic shops. In Kuala Lumpur, an uncirculated note is being sold for around MYR800 and in Singapore for around S$400 and on eBay for around US$300. A used note depending on the condition would be slightly cheaper but not that much cheaper if it is very fine or very good.

I chanced upon these notes accidentally. One of our local food blogger recently emailed me telling me that she has recently came into possession of these notes. She asked whether she should deposit it into a bank. Anyway, I gave some pointers including the value of the notes and asked if she is selling some of the notes, can I also buy them. That was how I managed to acquire two of these notes to add to my collection.

So I would suggest for those of you who has older aunties etc who you think might be hoarding notes, to ask them nicely. They might think they are just sitting on notes worth the face value but not realising the value of those notes have indeed risen beyond their expectation.

One of my colleagues at the office was telling me this story when he asked one of his aunties. His auntie told him that she had plenty of paper notes but has deposited them in the local bank. She said that why don't they all go to the bank and take the notes out again. My friend laughed and told her that the bank will surely give back the amount of money she put in but she will never see the same paper notes that she had deposited in the bank. She certainly missed out on the increased valuation of those notes. Well, tell your auntie this story and tell me if you have any Brunei paper notes for sale.

Food on stamps

I spent my Sunday morning, drying my stamps out. I have been keeping all these used stamps cut out from envelopes all over the world sending my ebay purchases. One interesting stamp from Singapore was this set. I only received one of the four and it intrigued me to know about the stamps.

I found that particular stamp was one of 4 stamps of Singapore's local delight stamps. I also discovered that this stamp set was issued together with Macau. So there is also another set of Macau food and Macau stamp sets had two sets as well. Interesting.

I guess the other reason why this stamp is interesting is that I am now on a diet. So even photos of food on stamps looked fantastically nice to me!

Star Coin - Brunei 1886

This is the one coin that I will never get tired of. Everytime one of these babies come up on ebay, I buy it, well almost everytime. I have a price limit of around USD50 which is still a bid high compared to about B$45 which you can buy from the local dealers here.

This coin was part of a million coin minted in Edinburgh. Someone convinced Sultan Hashim that he needed a new coin by suggesting that he pay for the minting and he will take half of the mints. The British was appalled when the coins came into the market. As soon as the British ran the government from 1906, the first act was to ban all these coins.

United Arab Emirates 200 Dirham 2004

Happy New Year 2008! I do hope you enjoyed last year's postings of stamps and currency notes. This year I hope to do more and blog more often about stamps and currency notes which I have collected as well as the news about some of these.

I was happy last March when I got my 500 dirham note from United Arab Emirates. I was on the way back from Iran when we stopped by Dubai. I went up to the money changer and said I wanted a 500 dirham note, how much was it... Anyway when I got that 500 dirham note, I thought my UAE Dirham collection was complete. It was sometime last month when I discovered that UAE had 200 dirham and 1,000 dirham notes as well. Aargh...

Anyway, one of my wife's niece's husband was a pilot with RBA and I asked him when he will be flying out to London and to help me get those notes. Anyway he hasn't been flying to London lately but he had a 200 dirham in his wallet and I changed for that first. The 200 dirham was issued together with the 100 dirham in 2004. Here is the 200 dirham note for you to enjoy. I still want that 1,000 dirham note.