Lao 1957 100 Kip

When I was in Vientiane, Lao's capital city, I had a chance to acquire an old 100 Kip note. I had not been following up on Lao's monetary notes before so when I bought it I did not how old it was. I did know that Lao was formerly part of the French Indo-China colony and this note was similar to most of the European colonial currency issued then.

I found out now that this 100 Kip note was actually issued in 1957. Prior to that, Lao was using a currency note which served all the three French colonies of Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao. In 1957, the Lao government issued notes denominated solely in kip. The notes were for 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 kip printed by the Security Banknote Company, 100 kip printed by the Banque de France and a commemorative 500 kip printed by Thomas De la Rue.

This is that 100 Kip note:

Lao 2000 Kip Note

When we were in Lao, my Minister took the entire delegation for dinner. After his PA had settled the bill, I saw he had an interesting modern looking note. I took a closer look at the 2000 Kip note. By the design  you can tell it was new. I did not have much time to ask or could find someone knowledgeable enough about the note and so I assumed that the 2000 Kip note was a new note and Lao did not have one before.  The 2000 Kip note looked like this:

 

When I arrived home in Brunei, I went through my collections and I found out that Lao had produced a 2000 Kip note and I had the older one at home:

 



Money from Lao PDR

I was attending the 1st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Women and other related meetings in Lao PDR last week. It was my first trip there and I was very much looking forward to the meetings. Obviously the Lao currency was on the top of things I wanted to get from Vientiane.

I had a number of Lao currency notes before. Actually I didn't know there were Laotian. I was thinking there were Cambodians. Anyway, I managed to get a whole set of current currency as well as a few pieces of the older Lao money. I was quite surprised when the hotel told me about a new 100,000 Kip note which just came out a few months ago. Apparently the government wanted the Laotian to use more Lao money. Actually this is true. I only brought US Dollars and easily use that. When I went shopping, the Laotian sometimes give change in Thai Baht. The Thais feature strongly in Lao's economy. I managed to get myself this almost uncirculated 100,000 Kip note:

Stamps for the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces

Closeup views of the five 50 cents stamps issued for the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

 

Stamps for Royal Brunei Armed Forces 50th Golden Jubilee

Last year the Royal Brunei Armed Forces celebrated its 50th Anniversary. I thought there will be stamps to commemorate the Golden Jubilee but there were not any. On 31st May this year, the stamps finally came out. The stamps are in a series of 5 stamps at 50cents each, $2.50 is the cost for the five stamps. There was also a miniature sheet with $50 stamp to commemorate the 50th anniversary. I have lost count of how many $50 stamps now issued by the Brunei postal authorities.

The new stamps are issued in sheetlets of 5 sets and the miniature sheet with a single $50 stamp as follows:

The technical details for the philatelist:

Name of Issue:
Commemorative Stamp to Commemorate Golden Jubiless of Royal Brunei Armed Forces

Date of Issue:
31st May 2012

Stamp Denomination:
50 cents x 5

Size of Stamp:
30 mm x 40.5 mm

Miniature Sheet High Value:
$50.00

Size of Miniature Sheet High Value:
110 mm x 150 mm

Designer:
Awang Haji Rosaimi bin Haji Lamit

Printer:
The British Security Printing Public Company Limited, Thailand

Printing Process:
Offset and Gold Foil Hot Stamping

Paper:
102 gsm

Perforation:
13 per 2 cm

Texts by:
Royal Brunei Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence

Bangladesh Takas

I was in Bangladesh last week. Bangladesh is the 29th or 30th country that I have evern been to and its currency is one which I have never collected before. During the transit to Dhaka, I went to a money changer near Mustafa Centre in Singapore and I managed to get a number of 500 Taka notes like this one:

500 Taka note. That hole on the right side occurs on every single 500 Taka note that I have.

All the notes have the same holes. I was quite intrigued and of course that's the first question I asked when I was in Dhaka. Apparently the hole is caused by banks which punched through a set of notes and bind them together using a piece of string. If the note is new, the hole is hardly visible but with wear and tear, the holes got bigger. The other thing I also found is that people like to write on the notes.

1000 Taka note. That same hole also appears on this 1000 Taka note plus additional staple notes.

Later on I managed to acquire this newer 1000 Taka note from our diplomatic mission's staff. At first glance, it looks okay. A closer examination will show the same hole and slightly torn and plus additional staple holes.

I tried purchasing older Bangaldeshi notes in Dhaka. I was told that this was not possible as most of the older notes are withdrawn and demonetise. I have to get them on the internet now.

Brunei Stamps 1906

The first stamps issued by the British Resident in Brunei were Labuan 1902/03 stamps overprinted with the word BRUNEI and the value of the stamps (photo credit: Rozan Yunos)

In 1895, Sultan Hashim issued the first Brunei stamps under a PPP under the guy who got the franchise went round selling those Brunei stamps as fast as he could.

In those days, that was considered unfair and many stamp catalogues refused to acknowledge that as Brunei's first stamps. Even in today's Scotts Stamp Catalogue, you will not find the 1895 stamps listed. The stamps many cataloguers consider as the first official Brunei stamps is the set above widely known as the Labuan Overprint.

Brunei had its first British Resident administering the country in early January 1906. He set up the first Post Officce and ordered new stamps to be used. However those stamps for the new postal service. But those stamps did not arrive until 1907. Luckily for him, the Labuan Island's administration was moved under the jurisidction of the Federal Government and will not be using their stamps anymore. So the first Brunei stamps were those left over Labuan stamps and stamped with the word BRUNEI and the value needed.

Today these are worth around RM$2,400 as listed in Standard Stamp Catalogue of Malaysia Singapore and Brunei. Whereas the Scotts Stamp Catalogue at about GBP685. I managed to acquire it for much less than that.