Philippines 20 Peso 1921

When I was in Manila recently, I came across a shop in San Juan selling Philippines currency notes. At first I just wanted to have a look but when the lady started taking out all her notes, I could not help but just had to buy everything she had on Philippines. Over the next few weeks, I will highlight those that I bought.

One of the more expensive note which I bought was this 1921 note. The original price for this note was 17,000 Peso which is far from what I am willing to pay. But after negotiation plus the fact that my total purchase have already exceeded four figures, I decided to purchase this one for around 10,000 Peso which is roughly around B$300 which is again much more than I should spending on this.

But it is 1921 and it is one of the more rare notes so I guess I should not regret this. I managed to get all the modern currencies as well as the various bank notes issued during the war by the various regions. Those were interesting. I am still following up a few of the Philippines Currency notes which I do not have in my posession.

SOAS Mosque $50 stamp

Last month, 26th September 2008, was the 50th anniversary of Masjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien. The Postal Services issued a set of new stamps to commemorate the event plus two miniature sheets. The first miniature sheet is shown above which is the high value miniature sheet with a $50 stamp.

This $50 stamp is not the first $50 stamp for Brunei. The first $50 stamp was issued in 1996 for His Majesty's 50th Birthday. In fact five $50 stamps were produced especially for that and the miniature sheet sold for $250 (it is about $800 on the market now). A $60 stamp was issued for His Majesty's 60th Birthday and a $40 stamp was issued for His Majesty's 40th Coronation earlier this year. This high value stamp is certainly an interesting marketing strategy for Brunei's Postal Services as not that many people will be using this $50 stamp. I would say a used one would probably cost more than an unused one.

Back in the 1970s, most people did not know that the mosque was also a school. In those days, Madrasah, the building next to the mosque was the only school that provided sekolah ugama in the morning in the whole of Brunei, I think. Most of us who attended the Brunei Preparatory Schools would be going to school in the afternoon. So the only way to go get sekolah ugama would be going to madrasah. Madrasah classes were overflowing. I remembered there were about 50+ of us in each class. The classes were not even partitioned properly except with standing wooden partition. You can hear the classes next to you.

We were like that for a few months before they started using the balconies overlooking the main prayer hall at SOAS Mosque. Every day we would be dragging up a standing blackboard up to the balcony. The balcony is not very visible from the main prayer hall but every Thursday I would remember looking down at the workers laying the carpets for the next day Friday prayers. I think in those days, the carpets were not permanently placed on the floors. So on the balcony, there would be two or three classes, one on both ends and one in the middle. This went out for a few months before we got moved to the classes at BPS Bandar at today's SOAS College padang. That's another interesting story in itself.

I remembered SOAS Mosque. I am probably one of a few people in Brunei who can say I studied there.

Brunei's New One Cent Coin

The Brunei Currency and Monetary Board (BCMB) issued new one-cent coins yesterday. The new coins will be in circulation alongside present one-cent coins and both would remain as legal tender in Brunei Darussalam and countries that accept them.

The announcement was made by Sainin bin Hari Mohammad, manager of the Brunei Currency and Monetary Board (BCMB) currency operation, who spoke on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer during a press conference at the BCMB building yesterday.

The difference between the new and present one-cent coin is that new one-cent coin is made from a composition of copper and zinc metals and is yellowish in color, while the present one-cent coin is made up of only copper metal and is brownish in color.

However, the new one-cent coin still retains some of the present one-cent coin features. The weight of the new and present coin is around 1.780 to 1.8010 grams per unit and has a diameter of 17.610 to 17.660 millimeters.

According to the BCMB official, the selection of copper and zinc metals in producing the new coins was to save production cost, thus, justifying the face value of the coin.

SOAS Mosque Opening 1958

A Miss Jennifer sent me this set of First Day Covers all commemorating the opening of Brunei's Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in September 1958. The 50th Anniversary of the opening is coming up this Friday and there is currently a lot of interest in these old philatelic items. I only had one of these 3 FDCs but I was not surprised when Jennifer sent me these three different designs. I found that for other stamp issues in the 1950s and the early 1960s, there will always be more than one FDC design. I am guessing that in those days, these FDCs were not always issued by the Postal authorities and that other people may be allowed to issue them as well.

The SOAS Mosque was opened on 25th September 1958. That day was a public holiday because it was also Prophet Muhammad's birthday. So that day was Maulid Rasul or Maulud Nabi. The stamps were officially issued on 24th September 1958, the day before the official opening.

Two of the three FDC had 24th as the postmarked on the FDC. But one of them was issued on 26th, the day after. It would be interesting to know why that is so.

Brunei's 'Pead' First Day Cover 1895

I am trying to win ebay's auction on this item but I fear I am not closer to getting it. The price at this point in time is US$409.00 which is already too much what I am willing to pay for.

In 1895, when John Robertson managed to get the stamps concession from Sultan Hashim, he produced a set of 10 stamps in exchange for running the postal service in Brunei. With hindsight, we now know that what he wanted was to get the rights to producing the stamps and make gains from it. The postal service which he ran was described as 'sporadic at best' so he was not meeting his end of the bargain of running that postal service.

As part of his investments, he sold first day covers. He sent two batches of first day covers, one was to a Mr. Parker and the other was to a Mr. Pead, both in London. These two, maybe numerous in 1895, have now been much harder to find and their prices have increased as well. I managed to obtain the 'Parker' first day cover for about GBP220 in an auction a few months ago. I thought getting the 'Pead' first day cover would complement the 'Parker' first day cover. But not at more than US$400+.

Brunei's $40 Stamp

Last month was His Majesty's 40th Anniversary of his coronation. I wrote about the stamps that were issued specially to mark the occassion which you can read here.

Together with the set of stamps were two miniature sheets. One contained all the stamps and the other contained a very high valued stamp of $40. At the time of the stamps, the lady at the philatelic unit informed me that the high value miniature sheets were being reprinted. There was a wrong colour or something like that. I did not get mine until today. So here it is:

When I went to the counter last month, the lady said she would reserve me a number - the miniature sheet has a serial number. I just said 500 as the number that popped up in my head and I got that 000500. I should have asked for something like 888 or something.

This is not the first time Brunei postal authorities issued high valued miniature sheet. The previous one was to mark the occassion of His Majesty's 60th Birthday. The authorities issued a $60 stamp on miniature sheet and sold it for $235. The previous one to that was when His Majesty celebrated his 50th birthday. The postal authorities issued a miniature sheet with five $50 stamp and the miniature sheet had a face value of $250. Then I was not an avid collector and $250 was a lot of money to pay for stamps. Nowadays I am willing to pay much more. Much to my regret that $250 miniature sheet cost me $600 at a philatelic store in Singapore in March.

So the lesson would be - get your hands on this $40 miniature sheet. It would rise up in value in the future and this is a pretty good investment.

Brunei's $5 1995

I bought a book about Brunei published around 1980s. The book was relatively modern but it does show a number of changes that Brunei has undergone over the last 20 odd years. I was surprised when I saw the photo above. It shows a Kampong Ayer on Pulau Pepatan. So it is strictly not Kampong Ayer proper. I remembered this scene as I know it appeared on one of Brunei's older currency notes.

And here it is forming the illustration of 1995 series of $5 notes. Most of these series took their photos from one of the postcards or more relatively known photographs. I have written about a few in the past.

For those still wondering which $5 note I am talking about, here it is.