Miniature wonders: New SingPost website features six decades of stamp heritage
SINGAPORE – Stamp collectors and those interested in Singapore’s postal heritage can now browse stamp issues spanning six decades on a website launched by SingPost on Oct 9.
Marking World Post Day 2026, the portal, philately.singpost.com, is the country’s first comprehensive national philately website, said SingPost.
It features over 500 national stamp issues released since 1966, a year after Singapore gained independence.
SingPost said that one of the most highly sought after stamps is the 2008 Peranakan Heritage issue, showcasing the intricate craftsmanship synonymous with the beaded shoes worn by the Nonyas.
The pouch-shaped miniature sheet made history as the world’s first beaded stamp, crafted with intricate caviar beads.
The bead sheets were pasted carefully onto each stamp with a hot iron press, according to the portal.
It also features other content like behind-the-scenes interviews with stamp designers, educational articles and a calendar of upcoming philatelic events.
Singapore's $5 Peranakan stamp made with caviar beads was released in 2008. It is the world's first beaded stamp.
PHOTO: SINGPOST/FACEBOOK
Other initiatives to mark World Post Day include the digital stamp – a first in Asia – that users can buy on the SingPost app during a public trial and use it for domestic delivery including letters and postcards.
SingPost has also released a set of two stamps featuring images that change when tilted. One transforms the modern-day Fullerton Hotel into the former General Post Office in 1928, while the other shows a contemporary postal worker becoming a mid-century postman delivering mail on foot through kampungs.
Titled Then & Now, the collaboration between SingPost and The Straits Times is Singapore’s first stamp issue to feature lenticular effects.
Collectors who received their orders on Oct 9 appreciated the blend of nostalgia and innovation.
Stamp collector Tan Kan Buey with his new lenticular stamps on Oct 9.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
“I bought four sets of the lenticular stamps,” retiree Tan Kan Buey, 95, said in Mandarin.
“Being a stamp collector since I was 10, I feel that this is the first stamp in Singapore that is especially unique, as it is interactive and changes at every angle.”
Eddie Yong, 67, a retiree who has been a stamp collector for decades, said: “I think the lenticular stamps are a refreshing approach. No one would have thought they would make these into stamps.”
Stamp collectors Tan Kan Buey and Eddie Yong (in green) reviewing the lenticular stamps.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
SingPost said there is currently a second pre-order for the final batch of stamps, which will take about 2.5 months to arrive in Singapore from the Netherlands.
Pre-orders can be made on the Singpost website at https://shop.singpost.com/pre-order.html
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.