Monday, September 27, 2010

The blow pipe as depicted on the stamp seems a little short in length, it looks like a "flute" rather than a blow weapon.

Orang Asli - the aboriginal people of the Peninsula Malaysia has their first appearance on a Malaysian stamp (Not including the Malayan stamps and those stamps which do NOT depict Orang Asli as the main subject). Glad to see the typical blow pipe of the orang asli featured on the stamp however I feel there is a design fault in the stamp, the usual long blow pipe of the Orang Asli appears to be a short piece of weapon on the stamp, the pipe looks to me like a flute. Look at the "real" blow pipe weapon as depicted on the postcard.
  • A maximum card realised with "Orang Asli blow pipe weapon" stamp, FDI pictorial cancel @ Jerantut

Interesting story of the butterflies of the local butterfly farms

There are a few butterfly farms in Malaysia. I always thought that the butterflies housed in these butterfly farms are bred within the farm themselves, however, the truth is NOT. I am told that butterflies are very difficult to be bred , the chances of having the bred butterflies within the farm are very slim, hence, the owners have to purchase live butterflies from the external source and set them free to the farm. The main supplier for these live butterflies are the "Orang Asli" of Malaysia. Believe it or NOT ?
  • A maximum card realised with "Birdwing butterfly" stamp, FDI pictorial cancel @ Singapore

Friday, September 24, 2010

It is the Singapore F1 Night Race in September each year

The first F1 night race in the World is coming back to Singapore for the 3rd time. This is the ONLY F1 night racing in the World. This is an MC created with an Advertisement Card depicting a F1 machine racing pass the City Hall of Singapore.
  • A maximum card created with "F1" stamp, Pictorial Cancel @ Singapore

I used this postcard several times for MCs of the Year of the Tiger of different countries

Postcards can be used over and over again to realise MCs for the same subject stamps issued by different postal administrations , this is especially true for the annual Chinese Sheng Xiao (Zodiac) stamps. I have used the same postcard to realise the Year of the Tiger for Malaysia, Singapore, Hongkong, Macau, Taiwan, China and lastly Thailand. 
  • A maximum card realised with "Year of tiger" stamp, CDS date cancel @ BANGKOK

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A beautiful Rain Tree Ad Card perfectly for an MC

Ad cards are rich in topical subjects, many a times they are just superb for the realising of an MC. I like this Ad Card, it shows a covered road /lane with rows of rain trees by the 2 sides of the road.
  • A maximum card realised with "rain tree" stamp, FDI pictorial cancel @ Singapore

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A postcard given on board China Airlines on the trip to Taipei 2005 Asian Philatelic Exhibition

Taiwan organised Taipei 2005  Asian philatelic exhibition , I travelled on China Airlines to the show and requested postcard from the cabin crew while on board the plane, I was given a set of postcards on a famous Chinese painting on "Peacock".  The postcard was used to create an MC @ Bangkok 2010.
  • A maximum card created with "Peacock" stamp, CDS date cancel @ Bangkok

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A lucky find @ Bangkok 2010

Whilst flipping through a stack of postcards @ Bangkok 2010, this particular one caught my attention, a one and only one lying within the stack of postcards. It was a postcard issued for the world refugee year 1960. depicting the famous Wat Arun of Bangkok. A clever collector affixed the then issued corresponding stamps on the picture side of the postcard and had it cancelled on the first day of issue. It became a nice Maximum Card of the early period of the Thailand. The beautiful thing of this MC , it was only sold @ 2.5 baht (bulk purchase).
  • A maximum card realised with "Wat Arun" stamp, CDS date cancel @ Bangkok

Have you come across such a pinkish TREE ?

Have you seen such a pinkish flowering tree before ? This tree is around us, however, we fail to notice it and do NOT know the name of it . It is of course a tropical tree grown locally. It is maximaphily again that pushed me to learn about this tree, having known it, I was ready to capture it on a Maximum Card for my treasure. Please enjoy !
  • A maximum card realised with "Sea Almond Tree" stamp, FDI pictorial cancel @ Singapore

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I was at the GPO KL on 31.7.2010 to have my National Monument MC done

On the day of issue of the stamp "Brave Warrior" 31.07.2010, I had most of my MCs done in Seremban ( My home town ), however, I still needed to rush to GPO Kuala Lumpur to have other MCs of the Malaysia Monument Done on a Saturday afternoon. All Philatelic Bureaux in Malaysia had long been closed on Saturdays, I did NOT know the office hours for the bureau operating on the first Saturday, I was late arriving at the GPO. I had to get my MCs stamped as these MCs I was creating were different to those I had made earlier in the morning.  For this MC, I have chosen to use a stamp depicting the National Monument which  was issued in 2007 as I see by doing so, the Maximum Card can achieve a  3 + 1 concordance  . Why do I say 3 + 1 instead of 3 ? Yes, I will always define a pictorial cancel to have 2 elements in it i.e  (a) a name of the post office and (b) a Pictorial cachet . In this particular MC, I will consider it to have a 4 elements in concordance.
I have seen and glad that Maximaphilist "epylim" had made similar MCs on the day of issue. Obviously, "epylim" has  great instinct and interest towards Maximaphily. Congratulations !

Friday, September 17, 2010

The soldiers are looking for a missing WATCH of the General!

It is an ordinary Advertisement Card of a prestige Watch Company with a caption "Time Frame" at the top. It is an ideal card for the creation of a maximum card for the "Brave Warrior Award" stamp issued on 31.7.2010. The perfect location to paste the stamp is to affix it on top of the image of the Watch. The final Maximum card with the prominent Watch image covered becomes a perfect piece of MC which no one can tell there was initially a "watch" sitting right at the middle of the postcard. In maximaphily, it is up to the individual to play with the stamp and postcard, an ordinary advert card can be moulded to become a wonderful Maximum Card.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

What are the Soldiers searching for ?


What are the soldiers searching for ?
Answer to be posted tomorrow ... Make a guess whilst waiting for the answer.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What's wrong of Maximum Cards being Philatelic ?

Traditional Philatelists used to comment and give remarks that Maximum Cards are being philatelic, I am always furious what is wrong with Maximum Card being philatelic ? Maximum Card was born philatelic, it is no way for it to be postally used, firstly, in accordance to the postal rules, postage stamps are NOT supposed to be affixed on the picture side for posting , so that this does NOT confuse the postal clerks whist processing the postmark cancellation on the postcard. Since the postal rules had NOT changed and will NOT be changed, hence, by affixing a postage stamp on the picture side obviously violates to the postal rule, therefore, the nature of a maximum card is man-made and philatelic in the sense. Maximaphily is a great hobby, it involves extensive personal researches to produce a maximum card. The process from searching for a postcard to  seeking a relevant post office for the cancellation of a concordant postmark is an enormous task to be challenged by other categories of philately. If at all Traditional philately persists to look down upon Maximaphily owing to its nature , Maximaphily is always and prepared to stand on its feet. Deltiology with postal routes qualifies to be a part of philately, however, it is NOT in the world of philately, it stands on its own as DELTIOLOGY. If the umbrella of the Philately world is too large to shelter for Maximaphily, I will like to see Maximaphily to raise its own flag, it is ONLY in the true world of Maximaphily that we talk the same language.
  • A maximum card created with "traditional games" stamp, CDS date Cancel @ Seremban

Monday, September 13, 2010

My ultimate aim was to realise this Vimanmek Mansion MC @ Bangkok 2010


 
Malaysia issued a set of 10 stamps along with the other ASEAN nations forming a special omnibus stamp issue in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of ASEAN in 2007. Each of the stamps depicts an Architecture of the respective nation. In 2007, I was ONLY able to realise a maximum card for the Malayan Railway HQ Building stamp, the other 9 stamps depicting architecture in foreign locations of which I was unable to realise a maximum card owing to the lack of the concordance in Place. 

I knew it was an opportunity for me this time @ Bangkok to have this maximum card realised conforming to the FIP rules , hence I was set for the mission to have this particular Maximum Card done accordingly. I brought along with me the Malaysian stamp featuring teh  Vimanmek Mansion , I looked for a related postcard , had the stamp affixed on the postcard and cancelled at the Official Pos Malaysia Booth @ Bangkok 2010. Here it is , a Malaysia Stamp validly cancelled at Bangkok - hence, the status of the Maximum Card fully complies to the FIP rules. 

I recalled blogger "epylim" had a similar situation of an MC to be done i.e the 2010 World Expo Australia Pavillion stamp with its related postcard, the only solution is to wait for  an official Auspost booth set up @ Shanghai one day to have it cancelled officially. It is a real challenge to do such a "feat" ! Good luck epylim .. be patient ! You can do it !

Sunday, September 12, 2010

My basic homework before the mission of creating MCs @ Bangkok

 
I did a search of the recent stamps issued by Thaipost and I was particularly interested in the following Chinese Theme subjects : The Goddess of Mercy ( Kuan Yin 观音), Lion dance (舞狮), zodiac (生肖), fu lu shou( 福禄壽), Peacock etc., I knew the stamps of the "Kuan Yin" and "fu lu shou" would never be possible to be issued in Malaysia, I had the urge to realise them as MCs to treasure. I was ONLY able to find postcards for the "Kuan Yin" and failed to look for the "Fu lu Shou" postcards.  I particularly like the "Kuan Yin" statue postcard of the Penang Kek Lok Si temple, of which I was successful in converting it into a Maximum Card.  I was glad that I did the necessary homework before I left for Bangkok, my mission of creating MCs was successful.
  • A maximum card realised with "Kuan Yin" stamp, CDS Date Cancel @ Bangkok

Saturday, September 11, 2010

One Asked : Was there any wastage on the unused stamps from a complete set, whilst you created MCs @ Bangkok ?

Someone asked :Would there  be wastage on the stamps broken up from the complete set which were NOT used for making other MCs?
At Bangkok 2010, I did NOT have the time to create any MCs for the first 3 days of the exhibition, however, during lunch break, I was able to spend a few minutes looking at the items SOLD at the dealers' booths. From my observation, I noted many of the Local Thai booths were selling single mint stamps broken from sets, I knew it was ideal for maximaphilist to pick whatever stamps suitable for the creation of MCs instead of buying them in sets. Further my observation, one of the booths was selling mint stamps with NOT as good condition ( mostly toning on the gum ) at value below face, this was another good news for me, I could pay less to purchase a mint stamp for creating an MC. Yes, the stamp matter was solved, BUT where to look for the relevant postcards ? ( although, I did bring along a few postcards which I thought I must create them as MCs.) Hei, there it was, a Thai booth at one corner was selling many Thai postcards of the 60s/70s at very very reasonable price i.e 2.5 baht (25 sen) per piece, this was another great news for me. On the 4th day of the exhibition, I patronised the dealer's booth to buy up the postcards I wanted ... with 2.5 baht a piece, I still enjoyed further discount on a bulk purchase. I began my journey of searching single stamps at the various Thai booths and had my MCs cancelled by the experienced Thai postal staffs. Well , a fruitful trip of creating MCs.
If there were no single stamps available at the booths, and there were no postcards available for sale, I do NOT think I would be able to create the lot of MCs.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Friday, September 03, 2010

Yang Dipertua Agong Maximum Card

  Yang Dipertua Agong Maximum Card concordant Postmark : Kuala Lumpur