The Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) will present a two-part new exhibition from today to 31 December, You’ve Got Mail!, to re-ignite fond memories of the era when pen and paper, letter- writing, and the postal service, played a pivotal role in bringing people together. For the first time in Singapore, a collection of 200 award-winning decorative envelopes from the Washington Calligraphers Guild (USA); and 150 unusual stamps and philatelic materials from the SPM collection and lenders, will be on display. This showcase the beauty of letter-writing, creative envelopes, and even quirky stamps.
In the first segment, Art on Envelope: Send Your Love the Write Way, 200 award-winning, beautifully handcrafted envelopes from the Washington Calligraphers Guild’s annual Graceful Envelope Contests (with entries from between 2002 and 2016), will illustrate the beauty of letters and stamps.
In the second segment, Seeing Is Believing! Unusual Stamps, will illustrate how innovative stamp design and printing technology, coupled with a dose of creativity, have transformed the humble postage stamp from its familiar square or rectangular gummed paper look, to today’s plethora of stamp issues that engage all our senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. These “new look” stamps reflect the issuing country’s unique heritage and culture. Multi-sensory stamps on display include several “firsts” in the philatelic world.
Singapore (2008): world’s first hand-pasted beaded stamps depicting the exquisite beadwork of the Peranakans
Bhutan (1973): world’s first “talking stamps” – plastic (vinyl) stamps embossed with melodies of native folk songs that are playable on a record-player
Switzerland (2001): world’s first chocolate-scented stamps
Austria (2004): world’s first stamp embedded with Swarovski crystals
Portugal (2007): world’s first stamp that was printed on thinly sliced pieces of cork
Jersey (2012): stamp with first official holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch
Hong Kong (2013): world’s first 22K gold lace metal on the zodiac year of the snake
Canada (2016): special lenticular stamps that ‘show’ reruns of classic scenes from Star Trek
Spain (2017): 3D Star Wars stamps featuring characters from the Star Wars universe
Japan (2017): genuine gold foil stamps of iconic Fugaku Sanjurokkei
You’ve Got Mail! Exhibitions
Singapore Philatelic Museum
23B Coleman Street, Singapore 179807
10:00am – 7:00pm
Free admission for Singaporeans and PR
