My newly acquired stamps during the past month.
Sold on eBay. The stamp was wrongly described as 1 Tical but actual stamp is the much rarer 1 Salung yellow.
The cancel is a very rare Court cancel, applied around 1897. The cancel reads:
3rd Porisapa Court
Bangkok
Ministry of Justice.
This is a special district court handling, small criminal cases. With this stamp and the new knowledge, I got, I will have to modify some of my album pages, to be shown in the June Blog.
Purchased for $20.
The above lot I acquired recently from the Eurseree 66 auction, held on March 30, 2024.
Including commission, I paid Baht 32,800 or $900
The top row of 5 stamps are the so-called King's Monogram stamps from 1875. The stamps are the more expensive version of those stamps issued with gum. They have a large part of the original gum. I added to these 5 stamps 2 other colors of stamps with gum, the blue and the unlisted red-violet. I plan to put these stamps back in Eurseree auction in August, as a set, never offered so complete while in good quality.
The bottom 2 rows of stamps show 4 red-lilac stamps of which 2 are partly imperforate. After a careful study, I have concluded that these 2 partly imperforate stamps are indeed genuine and are not stamps with the perforations cut off.
Together with some other red-lilac stamps already in my collection I have made a new, unique album page, shown below.
Below are some of the Thailand revenue stamps sold by me on eBay.
Match box wrapper for 10 small match boxes with a 2 Satang Tobacco revenue surcharged "not more than 60 matches" per box. Year of use around 1971.
The complete wrappers with stamps are getting increasingly rarer.
Sold for $12.50
Thai Occupation of Trengganu 1944.
The 2-cent value with margin. The full set of 15 stamps is getting very popular with many new buyers coming in from Malaysia.
Sold for $ 103.
Bill of exchange with N.H.B. overprinted General Revenues 1956. N.N.B. stands for Nederlandse Handels Bank, a Dutch Commercial bank with offices in Bangkok. These security overprints were made to prevent employees of pilfering those stamps and resell back to the revenue office. Sold for $17.50
Complete set of 1949 Entertainment revenues. These stamps originated from the Thomas De La Rue archives, who printed those stamps and subsequent series of Entertainment stamps.
Over the years, I have sold multiple of these sets, but the above set is the last complete set I had from the 1949 issue.
Sold for $53.
Complete set of 1963 Entertainment stamps, also coming from the Thomas de La Rue archives.
Sold for $69.
Article: The Thai Occupation of the Shan States in Burma 1943-1945.
Written by Jos Sanders.
In 1942, the Japanese together with the Thai army invaded the Shan states in northern Burma. The fighting ended in November 1942. In August 1943, Thailand was allowed by the Japanese to annex the province of Shengtung or Chieng Tung. The Thai issued one series of General revenues for this annexed area. Full details can be found in the article I wrote. Please access by clicking HERE.
Collector: Nararat Limnararat.
Nararat Limnararat is a long-time collector of Thailand revenue stamps, collecting seriously for some 20 years.
He started to collect revenue stamps by buying the collection from Peter Iber. (The original collection of Peter Iber can also be seen on this website under Exhibits in my Blog). Nararat does exhibit in stamp shows. In the last Bangkok WSC (World Stamp Championship) stamp show in December 2023, Nararat was the only exhibitor of Thailand revenue stamps. His beautiful, advanced, 8 frame (128 page) exhibit, did win a large Gold with a score of 95 points. For some more info on Nararat, click HERE.
Nararat Limnararat's 8 frame (128 pages), Large Gold, Thailand Revenue stamp exhibit.
Nararat Limnararat was the only exhibitor, in the Bangkok 2023 WSC (World Stamp Championship) stamp show, to exhibit Thailand revenue stamps. His beautiful, advanced 8 frame (128 pages) revenue exhibit, did win Large Gold with a score of 95 points.
You can view his complete exhibit HERE.
Thai language Blog posted in middle of the homepage.
I translated again this May 8 Blog into the Thai language using ChatGPT-4. This is to try to accommodate my many Thai readers.
The May 8 update in Thai will be posted around May 28.
Below in my Blogpost from April 8, 2024.
My newly acquired stamps during the past month.
British Consular Service revenues used in Bangkok, year 1947. Fits very nice with my growing collection of consular and diplomatic service fee stamps used at foreign embassies in Thailand.
Bought on eBay for $12.
Agriculture brown 1 Baht, perforation 12.5
After a soak in water to remove paper remnants, this stamp looks much better.
Bought on eBay for $11,
Some more revenue stamps sold during the past month, not by me.
The Thai occupation of Trengganu in northern Malaya 1944.
These war time revenues are getting very popular in the past few years with prices going up.
In this Blog I present a summary article I wrote on The Thai occupation revenues of northern Malaya, see below in this blog. I also posted on my website my full collection of my Thai Occupation revenues. See also a post below.
The stamps above sold on eBay.
The 4-cent red sold for $81, the 10-cent blue sold for $91, the 2-dollar blue sold for $112 and the 5-dollar red sold for $127.
The Eurseree auction sale 66 on March 30, 2024.
Some highlights in the revenue part of this auction, revenue lots 117 - 160.
Agriculture proof of the perforation 11.5 series. A Tamlung Orange, around 1888.
This is a cut out from a strip of 6 orange Tamlung values. There are about 9 different colors proofs issued, most of them in the highest value the Tamlung. 1 Tamlung equals 4 Baht.
Sold for Baht 22,000 or $605
Lot with 5 gummed king's monogram essays about 1875. These essays exist gummed and non-gummed, with the gummed essays rarer and more expensive. The 8 agriculture stamps are between 1885-1893. Not sure if the 2 stamps on the bottom row, partial imperforate on 3 sides, do have the perforations cut off. The 2 bottom row stamps with partial imperforate are very interesting.
Sold for baht 31,900 or $870.
Thai occupation of Kelantan 1944. The $50, the highest value in a set of 10 stamps.
The stamp has a part cancel which reads State Treasury Kelantan. The occupation stamps are described in detail further down in this blog.
Sold for baht 2860 or $ 77.
Occupation revenues for Kelantan. Similar stamps are issued in blue/purple instead of red as postal issues.
The top right stamp has the 8 reversed. Sold for Baht 144,000 or $ 3,925
Lumpini park fair Cinderellas, similar stamps as described in my March 8 Blog.
Sold for baht 6600 or $ 180.
Long Green Court and Land Fee revenues, used in 1911.
20 baht with the top margin imperforate. Very rare.
Sold for baht 462,000 or $12,600.
King Rama 5 Portrait stamps, Seek surcharged to 40 baht, around 1894. On complete document. Some 25 years ago this 40-baht stamp was extremely rare with 5 copies known to exist. Above document has 10 values attached for the huge sum (at that time) for
baht 28,600 or $ 780
Complete Court document from 1894 with various non-surcharged and also surcharged king Rama 5 Portrait revenue stamps.
The top row has a Two Salung Brown Agriculture stamp, perforation 12.5 used as a provisional Court Fee revenue.
Sold for baht 9,680 or $ 265.
All the details of Eurseree auction 66 can be found on their website under current Auction. www.eurseree.com
Article: The revenue stamps of the Thai Occupation of Malaya 1943-1945.
Written by Jos Sanders.
In 1943, the Japanese ceded the administrative control of 4 northern Malaya states to Thailand. They continued the military control and also the sensor control over the mail system in Malaya.
These 4 states were Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis, the same states Britain took from Siam in a treaty signed at the British Consulate in Bangkok in 1909.
Perlis due to its small size was merged wit neighboring Kedah. Kedah was renamed Syburi, meaning in Thai, city of the banyan tree. The article is a complete summary of all revenue issues of the Thai occupation, and it can be accessed here.
You can also find this article and many more other articles under References in my blog.
Article: The postal stamps of the Thai Occupation of Malaya 1943-1945.
Written by Jos Sanders.
I put this article here, to paint a complete picture of Thai postal and revenue stamps used in Northern Malaya during 1943-1945.
Some of the stamps used like the stamps shown in the picture, were also used for revenue purposes in Kedah (Syburi).
This article is a complete overview of all postal activities in the Thai occupied areas of Malaya. To access this comprehensive article, click here.
You can also find this article and many more other articles under References in my blog.
My collection of Thailand Revenue Occupation Stamps of Malaya 1943-1945.
I posted my complete 23-page collection of Thai Occupation Revenue stamps on my website under My Collection. You can view this collection by clicking here.
Thai language blog on this website.
In March 2024, I started to put a Thai version of my blog on my website. I am using artificial intelligence to translate my blog from English into Thai. Over time, I also plan to translate and post each blog written since the start of my website in August 2023. You can access my blog via the homepage of my website www.thailandrevenues.com or by clicking here.
Below blog is from March 8, 2024.
Newly acquired stamps.
Half Tamlung Yellow agriculture stamp, perforated 11.5. Issued around 1887. Bought on eBay for $62.
Yellow stamps are very difficult to find in good condition, due to the sensitivity of the yellow ink for humidity and temperature.
My guess is that only less than 10 Half Tamlung stamps still exist. The line horizontal over the stamp is not a fold but a cutting line in the mount. I think it confused the bidders on eBay and the final selling price was low.
Waterlow & Sons 1952 transfer proofs of the General Revenue value 20 Satang in black. From the archives of Waterlow & Sons. The as issued stamps are in dark red. Purchased on eBay for $89. In the exhibit of Peter Iber, part 2, available on this website" is a similar sheetlet of 8 stamps. Peter Iber did call this a transfer proof sheetlet. For me it’s not yet clear what this block really represents. Any advice from readers of this Blog is welcome.
Sold on eBay (not by me).
King's monogram essays 1875. Imperforate. Described in a previous article in this blog. Issued in 7 different colors with and also without gum. Sold on eBay for $258.
11x Court and Land Fee revenues, sold on eBay for $15.50.
This is a nice and challenging series to collect. In an article in my blog this month, these stamps are described in detail, and I also posted my own collection on the home page under My Collection.
Beside a handful of more expensive stamps in these sets, a majority of these stamps can be purchased between $1 - $5 per piece. The 3 most expensive stamps in the Erawan series are the 40 and 80 Baht Giesecke Devrient stamps and the 80 Baht war time printing with a picture of the Lady of Justice with the Scales of Justice.
The 80 Baht Giesecke Devrient issued 1915. Sold in February 2024 on eBay, for $51.
This stamp is mentioned in the post just above here as one of the more expensive stamps in the Erawan set.
Cinderellas sold on eBay, not my stamps.
Pharmacy seal Cinderellas. The top line reads Udom pharmacy. Exists in 3 different colors, red, blue and green. No value is indicated. Sold on eBay for $4.25. Probably used to seal packages of medicine. Listed in my Revenue Stamp catalog, chapter 14. See homepage on top left.
Cinderella. Red cross 1975 (2518) issue.
Sold on eBay for $2.35.
Also described in my Thailand revenue stamp catalog chapter 14. This catalog is posted on my website.
Please note that these Cinderellas are not revenue stamps. They are issued by private organizations to raise money or to highlight certain events.
Article on Erawan Court and Land Fee Revenues 1915- 1984.
By Richard Blakeney, published in Thai Philately, Summer 2002, pg. 13-26.
The Erawan (mythological 3 headed elephant) stamps were printed and used over a period of 69 years as Court and Land Fee revenues.
With 5 different printers and multiple print runs and also different perforation, this was one of the most complicated Thai revenue series to study and catalog. The year 2002 article by Richard Blakeney, the original editor of the Thai Revenue catalog, is an excellent read to understand these Erawan issues. You can access this article here.
My collection of Erawan Court and Land Fee Revenues 1915-1984.
My own 68 pages of Erawan revenue stamps are posted in My Collection on the home page of this website. The above article of Richard Blakeney is in black and white. My own collection will help you if you have to sort out the Erawan stamps you have.
You can access my Erawan Revenue collection here.
Long Green Court Fee stamps used at the British Consulate in Bangkok.
The two Long Green stamps on the left are in my collection for some 20 years. For a long time, I never understood why the British Consulate in Bangkok would use Thailand Court Fee stamps and for what purpose. However, the internet contains a lot of info, but sometimes, it will take a long time to find.
In the Bowring Treaty, signed in 1855 between Siam and Britain, Siam was forced to accept that British subjects living in Siam at that time, could only be tried by a Consular or International Court and not by a Thai court. Thailand had in the 1800's many British subjects living, like Shan and Burmese. Most of them working for British trading companies, involved in the wood harvesting and trade in northern Thailand. In 1909. a treaty was signed between Siam and Britain. in which Siam lost the northern Malaya states of Kelantan, Trengganu , Kedah and Perlis. In the same treaty the jurisdiction of the British Consular Courts was eliminated.
It seems that also at least France, Denmark, Germany and Austria- Hungary had similar extraterritorial judiciary treaties with Siam.
Cinderellas; Lumpini Park Exhibition.
Planned to be issued for an exhibition in 1925 during the reign of king Rama 6. However, the king died on November 26, 1925, and the exhibition was cancelled.
Written by Richard Blakeney.
Below blog is from February 2024.
Sold on eBay in January 2024, Agriculture revenues.
Left, the 1 Baht ochre perforation 11.5 with date RS113 or 1894. Sold for $21.50
Right, Two Salung yellow perforation 13.5. Sold for $18
The yellow stamps are difficult to find with the good color like above stamp, yellow will easy fade in the tropical temperature and humidity.
Cinderellas: Chiang Mai TB seals 1957-1966.
Starting in 1957 (Buddhist Era BE2500), the Northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai started to issue Anti Tuberculosis Charity seals. For 10 years, each year a new design was issued with as main theme elephants. Issued in sheets of 25. In 1962, the TB association of Thailand started issuing TB Charity seals, also each year a different design and it continues into the year 2023.
These seals can sometimes be found on postage mail and even on revenue documents.
Articles on Thailand revenue stamps; Long Green King Rama 5, Court and Land Fee Revenues 1896-1938. By Jos Sanders.
This series of Long Green stamps was used for a long period from 1896-1938. There are so many different surcharges made over the years that it is quite confusing to try to sort these stamps. In addition, there are many surcharge errors and variations. In the article below, I have shown the various printings in chronological order. You can access by clicking Here
Mystery of the Long Green revenue and the postal Rejected Die issue.
In the Eurseree auction number 15 in April 2008, lot 63, following item was auctioned.
Hand painted essay of King Rama 5.
Size 9 X 12.5 cm, value indicated is 1 Att.
Below the portrait is written Siam Postage & Revenue. The frame and the portrait are 2 separate pieces. The portrait painted on thick card and the frame on thinner paper.
The sales price was about $20,000.
This essay as shown was never issued.
However, the portrait of King Rama 5 was used for a postal as well as a revenue issue. In 1893, the Siam legation in Berlin Germany did send out a request for quotation to the Leipzich based company of Giesecke Devrient.
This request resulted that around 1895/1896 Giesecke Devrient started printing the Long Green revenue stamps. The first of which are seen on document in June 1896. These revenue stamps have a very similar portrait of Rama 5 as seen in the essay. A set of postal stamps with a similar portrait (but a different size die) is listed in the postal stamp catalog as a non-issued Rejected Die. The king Rama 5 seemed not to have liked the portrait, so these stamps were not issued. However, some sets “escaped” to the public and are now sold for about $5,000 for a mint set.
Why was the postal issue rejected while millions of the Long Green stamps, with a similar portrait of Rama 5, were printed and used as revenue stamps in Thailand from 1896-1938?
Thanks to Rory Morrisey (editor, Thai Times) for the hints on above.
My own stamp collection.
I posted on the home page of my website under the tab "My Collection" 64 pages of my own Long Green stamp collection. Viewing this collection will help to understand above article on Long Green revenues. It also shows in much more details lots of variations. You can access the newly posted pages by clicking HERE.
Or you can go to the home page, click on "My Collection" and then click under "Court Fee and Land Transaction" on the tab, "Long Green Collection."
Articles on Thailand revenue stamps, Thailand Agriculture Revenues 1883-1896, Part 2.
This is the second part of a series of articles I have written in August 2023 on agriculture stamps: Thailand Agriculture Revenues First Issue 1881-1896, part 2. In February 2024, I changed the originally posted draft article in a comprehensive, final article, published in the Thai Times. This article can be found in the blog under "Article" Reference 3 or click here.
Watermarks on Agriculture stamps.
Some of the Agriculture stamps from the 1883 issue show watermarks.
Watermarks are seen on the yellow, rose, blue, orange, bright green and blue green stamps. It is seen 1 time on sheets of 50 stamps (Baht, Half Tamlung and Tamlung) and maybe, not confirmed yet, 2 times on sheets of 100 stamps (Fuang, Salung and Two Salung).
The watermark reads LaCrox Freres, French for The Cross and Brothers.
The full watermark is shown in the Eurseree auction catalog December 2020, item 68.
Below blog is from January 2024.
Recently acquired stamps.
Thailand Playing Card revenue.
The stamp shown has multiple surcharges, plus in the middle of the stamp is indicated by handstamp that this is a sample stamp. Basic stamp; From 1985, blue frame and red medallion. Domestic Alcohol Beverage stamp. The volume and alcoholic strength are implied by law, but unknown to me.
Black surcharge: 0.330 liters......not over 15 degrees alcohol.
Red surcharge: Foreign playing cards......(tax) already paid for.
Red handstamp over medallion: Sample.
Prepared for the provincial excise offices to be used as reference. This stamp is very rare with only a few (less than 5), known to exist. Paid USD $12 on eBay.
The sample stamp above will replace the damaged, used stamp in my collection This stamp comes from a pack of imported Playing Cards from 1995. Playing card revenues are always glued very strongly to the package, making it nearly impossible to remove them intact. This makes Playing card revenues amongst the rarest of the Thai revenues.
Sold on eBay, Thailand Import Alcohol Beverage revenue.
My stamp, sold on eBay for $11.50 in December 2023.
Hand stamped date Nov. 16, 1956. Very rare stamp.
I believe this is an early sample stamp with the date hand stamped instead of the word Sample. Looking at the rarity and the sales price of $11.50 shows that the collecting of Thailand Beverage revenue stamps is still in an early stage, with not so many collectors yet in this very interesting collecting area.
Sold on eBay, Thailand Long Green Court revenues.
My lot, sold on eBay in December 2023 for $12.50.
2013, Long Green Court Fee stamps surcharged 10 Satang on 4 Atts, double bar surcharge.
Originally the surcharge is only 1 bar, but if that bar did not properly obliterate the value in the green tablet, a second bar would be placed by hand to properly cancel
the original value of the stamp. Sometimes only a part of the sheet would be corrected by handstamp. Scarce stamps.
Sold on eBay, Thailand Waterlow revenue specimen in non-issued colors.
Sold on eBay January 2024 for $16.50
Waterlow 5 Baht with Specimen overprint. Non-issued color. The same stamps exist with or without punch holes. Waterlow printed for many years specimen stamps in order to show their printing skills to prospective new buyers. These stamps are not really Specimen or proofs, but should be called reprints. These stamps were printed from the original plates, many times, years after the original stamps were printed. They were always printed in non-issued colors. Sometimes they were put in booklets which could contain sample stamps from multiple countries.
In 1968, Robson Lowe Ltd. disposed of a large stock of the Waterlow reprints,
because Waterlow has seized printing postage stamps.
Collector: Yaovanee Nirandara.
Yaovanee has been a well-known person in the Thailand Art scene and in the Thailand philatelic community for more than 30 years. She was Country Representative for Christie's auction house from 1997 to 2019, and was President of the Philatelic Association of Thailand, the PAT, from 1999 to 2009. She has been collecting Revenue stamps of Thailand, British Commonwealth countries and British Consular Services for more than 30 years. She bought old-time collections of British Commonwealth Revenue stamps but did not buy any major, old-time collection for Thai Revenue stamps, but still managed to build up one of the finest, most impressive Thailand Revenue stamp collections ever seen.
She exhibited Thailand Classic period, Burma Classic period and Thai Revenue stamps in many exhibitions. She received Grand prix International for her Burma Classic period in Phila Nippon'91 and large gold medals for her Thailand Classic period and Thai Revenue stamps in many exhibitions.
For the last 10 years, Yaovanee, is very much involved in the Thailand Arts, she opened an art museum in Khao Yai near Korat, called 129 Art Museum: website http://www.129artmuseum.com and currently the board member of Ministry of Culture and Vice-chairman of Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC).
My thanks to Yaovanee for giving permission to post her exhibit on my website.
See just below this post.
Yaovanee Nirandara 8 frame (128 pages), Large Gold, Thailand Revenue stamp exhibit.
Posted is a copy of Yaovanee Nirandara's Thailand revenue stamp show exhibit. She did win large gold at multiple international stamp exhibitions. Her collection is one of the finest Thai revenue collections ever assembled. To view her exhibit, click HERE.
You can also access the exhibit by clicking on the tab "Exhibitions" on top of this page.
Articles on Thailand revenue stamps, Portrait King Rama 5, Court Fee and Land Transaction Revenues 1887-1898. By Jos Sanders.
This set of revenues, issued in 1887,
is for a long time wrongly classified under General Revenues. Not much is known about these revenues, and it is difficult to find any written articles on these stamps. So, I wrote an article to the best of my knowledge, specially to put in this Blog.
My article describes why these stamps should be classified under Court Fee and Land Transaction revenues.
It also gives its main usages for Land Transactions and Court Fee payments.
You can access the article by clicking HERE, or you can go to the tab on top of my Blog called "Articles".
My stamp collection.
I posted on the home page of my website under the tab "My Collection" 29 pages of my own stamp collection.
I posted the section related to my above article, Portrait King Rama 5, Court Fee and Land Transaction Revenues 1887-1898.
You can access the newly posted pages by clicking HERE.
Or you can go to the home page, click on "My Collection" and then click under "Court Fee and Land Transaction" on the tab, "Portrait of Rama 5".
Thai language articles posted on this website.
Collecting Rice Field Taxes in the Past.
By Pipat Choovoravech.
This is an article published in November 2001 in the magazine, Special Cartoon.
It is written in the Thai language.
To access this article, click HERE.
You can also access this article via the top of this Blog, click on the tab "references" and then click on Reference 19.