Chic . Explore . ThinkerTen
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • UAE
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Azerbaijan
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Spain
      • Switzerland
      • UK
    • North America
      • USA
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • Africa
      • Egypt
  • Itineraries
    • Asia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Malaysia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Eastern Europe
      • UK
      • Spain
      • Western Europe
    • North America
      • USA
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • Africa
      • Egypt
  • Videos
  • Reviews
    • Hotel
    • Rental Car
    • Food
    • Airport
    • University
  • Resources
    • Agoda
    • RentalCars
    • Klook
    • Trip
  • 中文版
  • About
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • UAE
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Azerbaijan
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Spain
      • Switzerland
      • UK
    • North America
      • USA
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • Africa
      • Egypt
  • Itineraries
    • Asia
      • China
      • India
      • Japan
      • Malaysia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Eastern Europe
      • UK
      • Spain
      • Western Europe
    • North America
      • USA
    • Oceania
      • Australia
    • Africa
      • Egypt
  • Videos
  • Reviews
    • Hotel
    • Rental Car
    • Food
    • Airport
    • University
  • Resources
    • Agoda
    • RentalCars
    • Klook
    • Trip
  • 中文版
  • About

Chic . Explore . ThinkerTen

My Style ~ My Journey ~ My Inspiration

SingaporeTravel

Blast From the Past in Singapore Philatelic Museum!

by kumamonjeng November 27, 2017
written by kumamonjeng November 27, 2017
Blast From the Past in Singapore Philatelic Museum!

 Singapore Philatelic Museum
Many of the young children these day may not know what a stamp look like as we don’t really need to use stamps that much as compared to before. Now we can use emails, phone lines, faxes and other electronic wires which can reach faster.  I decided to pay a visit to the Singapore Philatelic Museum to recall back memories when I used to write letter. This family-friendly museum has many exhibits oriented toward young children. There are many small rooms for you to explore and to my surprise quite plenty to see.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Philately is a Window to the World

The setting at first floor, first exhibit room that I entered was quite fun, there is a tiny sofa for you to sit. Children can play with the windows, drawers as the are allowed to pull and find out the hidden treasures, this also will stir up their curiosity and find out the stories behind it.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Philately is the hobby of collecting and learning about postage stamps. The word Philately is derived from Greek words philos (love).To study a stamp is to learn about the richness of the world behind the stamp.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Stamp Hopscotch

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Old Postcard dated back in 1893 – Greeting from Singapore

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Children Puzzle – Fun Corner

These three stamps with pictures of cute bunny are puzzle, waiting for children solve them.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Room of Rarities

This room showcases the Singapore Philatelic Museum’s permanent collection. Spanning across almost 200 years, the collection traces the philatelic and postal milestones of Singapore from the Straits Settlements period to today. Some of the rarities on display are the early Queen Victoria covers and postage stamps and other archival materials of the three kings collection and postal artifacts.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Heritage Room

The setting of the Heritage Room is like a coffee shop in the olden days. There are plenty of activities you can do here.

1. Sit and relax at the old coffee shop

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

2.Pretend Selling Cendols In An Old Bike

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

3.Walking Around In Red Clogs Slippers

Dutch has their clogs so do we.  Our clogs are slippers instead, both made from wood!

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Clogs were preferred by women when working on wet surfaces particularly when they were washing clothes, working in the kitchen or going to the bathroom. Clogs do not slip easily.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

4. Check out the Spice

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

There is a spice corner for you to learn about spice!

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

5.Play “tikam” at Mamak Stores

This mamak store offer an interesting board game – Tikam Board. Have you ever tried the “tikam” game /random pick a card to win prizes? You don’t get to see this nowadays.  I remembered when I was young I saw a rich boy get fed up as he did not win any prizes from the “tikam” board game after so many attempt of random pick, so he went back home to get more money and bought the whole board game home! So funny.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Barber Shop

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Artifact donated by Singapore Post – Yellow Posting Box

This is designed locally back in 1971, in bright yellow color. The new boxes featured double posting apertures for separating the mails meant for “Singapore” and “Other Countries”.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Wooden Cabinet, c 1950

This antique cabinet was used for registered letters. These mail were safely locked up and postman would have to sign out for the mail of the respective postal beats from the registration clerk who would be working at the desk.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Lamp Posting Box

Have you seen a post box sitting so high up?  Not for short people like me I guess.  This kind of lamp post box is popular in some of the remote area back in the old days. Normally the post boxes were tied up high to lamp posts, the lamp light will allow people to read the letters or do any last minutes changes to the letter.  I am struggling to reach to the top to collect the mail.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Abode of Peace and the Lion City: A Brunei – Singapore Exhibition

This is a temporary exhibition hall till Feb 2018 which displayed the many of the  Brunei and Singapore notes, also the Currency Interchangeability Agreement. The deal allows the Singapore and Brunei dollars to be used in each other’s country on par.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Bruneians can use these currency to purchase thing in Singapore and by right, all shops should accept without dispute.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Have you seen $10,000 dollar note?  

The Singapore $10,000 note are the world’s most valuable banknotes that are officially in circulation but printing has stopped since Oct 2014.  I have never seen a $10,000 note before coming to this museum, the paper note is quite big size.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Old stamps – depicting stories behind each stamp!

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Japanese Banana Notes

The Japanese introduced a new currency for Malaya, Singapore and Brunei. It was known as “banana notes’ because the $10 note featured a banana plant. I heard my grandfather use to tell us banana notes has no value and people that time usually don’t dare to accept them. In fact, its value decreased dramatically after the war ended.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Overprinted Straits Settlements – King George VI Stamps

Three types of overprints were used – Postal Seal Handstamp, Romanised “Dai Nippon” and Kanji Overprint/大日本 back in 1942-1945 during Japanese occupation.  Japanese likes to call themselves Dai Nippon but Chinese in mainland China would call Japan as 小日本 adding a (Small ) in front 🙂
 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Provisions Purchasing Card

A ration card used during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The card is used to control the food during war time due to food shortage. Item such as rice, salt and sugar all needed to recorded down in this card when buying the food. So you would expect long queue at the shop and occasionally some fights.

Ration card - Singapore Philatelic Museum

Masak-masak Time

Time for “masak-masak” again in the old fashion kitchen.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

More of Brunei Cultural Heritage

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

To celebrate the deep-rooted friendship between Brunei and Singapore,there are more rooms feature for Brunei and Singapore Exhibition. Through stamps & artifacts, you get to discover Brunei’s rich cultural heritage.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Virtual Tour to Brunei – Ulu Temburong Forest

You also get to sit up a sampan/wooden small boat to explore the forest in Brunei – Ulu Temburong to search for some rarest flora and fauna in the world.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Souvenirs Shop

The souvenirs shop is at the entrance of the shop. Your kids may like some of these mini coin bank in the shape of post boxes.  The shops also sell postcards, first day covers and other postal item.

Mini coin post box Singapore Philatelic Museum

Opening Hours & Admission Charges

  • Foreign Visitors : Adult $8 Child (3-12 years) $6
  • Local Singaporean and PR : Free
  • 10 am to 7 pm
  • By mrt : City Hall and 10 mins walk from Exit B
  • Address : 23-B Coleman Street Singapore 179807

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Anime X Stamps – upcoming (from 16 Nov 2017 – 01 Apr 2018)

The key themes of the exhibit do change over time so you can always coming back for different exhibition.

 Singapore Philatelic Museum

Other Singapore Museum you may like :

  • Honor the brave at Singapore Civil Defence Heritage Gallery
  • Singapore Peranakan Museum – Baba & Nyonya – a unique hybrid culture in South East Asia
  • Singapore National Museum
  • Singapore : Asian Civilization Museum

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
Anime X StampsBanana Money - Banana NotesBrunei MoneyCurrency Interchangeability AgreementHeritage RoomMamak StoresOld Postcard dated back in 1893Play TikamProvisions Purchasing CardRation CardRed Wooden Clogs SlippersRoom of RaritiesSingapore $10000 dollar notesSingapore Philatelic MuseumStamp HopscotchVirtual Tour to Brunei - Ulu Temburong ForestWooden Cabinet for Registered mailYellow Posting Box
previous post
Up-close encounter with Pretty feathered friends at Singapore Jurong Bird Park
next post
Top 8 things to do at Raffles Marina Singapore! No member, no worries!

You may also like

4 day Itinerary Kuala Selangor and Shah Alam...

June 3, 2025

10 Day itinerary travel around Mt Fuji Japan

May 21, 2025

China Guiyang and Dejiang in October

March 18, 2025

Danang 4 Nights including Hoi An and Hue...

March 18, 2025

4-Night Luang Prabang Itinerary: What to See &...

March 7, 2025

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow us on FaceBook!

Facebook

Popular Posts

  • Japan 8 days self drive in Central Region – Summary Itinerary

  • Cabramatta The Vietnamese Village in Sydney

  • Australia Self Drive Itinerary – Gold Goast – Sydney – Melbourne Road Trip

  • UK Self Drive Itinerary Covering England, Wales & Scotland, the entire Great Britain!

  • Puente Nuevo an iconic stone bridge in Ronda Spain

  • Top 5 Reasons why you should self drive in Kyushu – 8 days – Itinerary Summary

  • Warner Bros. Movie World Gold Coast Queensland

  • Where to hunt for cheap souvenirs? Sydney Paddy’s Market Haymarket

  • The Bowing Deer at Nara – Top 14 Things you need to know before you visit Nara Park!

  • South Korea Self Drive 8 days Itinerary

About Me

About Me

I am the travel writer for Thinkerten. I lived in Japan, Australia, Malaysia and now based in Singapore. Speak 4 languages, Japanese, English, Malay, and Chinese. There are the many types of travels one can experience and mine are mostly focus on self-driving/road trip to explore the places I wanted to see and learn about. Only if you get out of your country, you will see the real you and understand more about yourself, to realize of your own identity, your own culture, and your root.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Klook.com

Copyright © 2017 - 2024 · ThinkerTen. All rights reserved.