Limited edition stamps to mark Dr Mahathir’s 93rd birthday are e snapped up in no time.
GEORGE TOWN: In less than half a day, all of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s stamps were sold out at the General Post Office in Downing Street.
A check at 1pm yesterday showed that the stamps were all snapped up and the clerk on duty said many people were buying in bulk, particularly stamp collectors.
Two such stamp collectors were spotted walking out of the post office with six sets of the stamps in their arms.
Josephine Ngau, 40, and Tan Mei Yuan, 35, were grinning as they left the counter.
“We have a network of friends who collect stamps as a hobby or to resell.
“We see who can go to the post office to buy for the group. This allows me to have rare stamps of Malaysia as well as from abroad,” she said.
However, she was surprised not to see a big crowd queuing up for the limited edition stamps.
Only 100,000 sets of Dr Mahathir’s stamps were printed and sold at RM93 per set at selected post offices and eziEmall.com.
Each set has three designs of 10 pieces each, and a face value of 60 sen a stamp.
This gives the 30 stamps a total face value of RM18.
“Maybe few people line up for them because of the price. It’s quite expensive, but we don’t mind paying because we know their value,” she said.
She said it was good that the post office did not limit the number of sets that each person was allowed to buy.
“I told my friends that if there was a limit, then I would only buy one set for myself. It’s a mutual understanding that we stamp collectors have,” she said, adding she was glad that RM5 from the proceeds would go to Tabung Harapan.
In the morning, lorry attendant R. Vikineswaran, 27, took the risk of being late for work to get one set for himself.
He went to the Butterworth post office at 8am, only to be told that the stamps were for sale in the Downing Street one.
So he crossed over to the island by Penang Bridge on motorcycle.
“I had no time to waste as I had to go to work,” said Vikineswaran at 8.55am, all smiles after getting his set.
He said he planned to “keep it for life”, adding that he has been collecting stamps since his high school days.
The limited edition stamps were issued to mark Dr Mahathir’s 93rd birthday yesterday.