Singapore Philatetic Museum

Just realised I did not post up the photos of Singapore Philatelic Museum here which I visited some time last year. I did not planned to visit the place. I just happened to pass by, so I thought I had go in to have a look. 

SPM is housed in an old nostalgic colonial house, and it is conveniently located at Coleman Street, somewhere near Fort Canning and Peninsula Plaza, the nearest MRT station being City Hall, the central of Singapore.

Beneath the old facade of the colonial house, the exterior of the entrance was adorned with colourful banners and stickers shouting for your attention. And once inside, it was actually cosy with colourful lamps in the main hall. I like a cute corner where these chairs and tables were, with wooden pots of flowers.

You see the different types of letter boxes used from the past few decades, and view the collection of philatetic and postal artefacts since the 18th century. I still prefer the bright English Red Royal Mail letterbox which has more character. Reminds me of London! I love London!

Discover the process of stamp making, the craft of stamp designers, and the passion of stamp collectors. We also see what the postman of the 50s, 60s wear - a typical beige safari-looking shirt and khaki shorts and boots, with what seemed like a straw hat. BOOMZ!

Stamp collectors would drool at the antique and more recent collection of stamps and memorabilia - from that of Marilyn Monroe to Jackie Chan to Harry Potter. It actually reminded me that I have a collection of stamps from the 70s, 80s somewhere in the house. I used to collect these when I was in primary school but they are in a mess now.  

There is a Heritage room showing mock up of the olden days shops. The familiar mama shop (operated by Indians) along the pavement of shophouses is what I miss seeing in Singapore. These Indian shop owners used to sell snacks, sweets, magazines, newspapers, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. I used to buy chewing gum from these mama shops. There is the old barber shop that can be set up anywhere, in a shop, in a house or in the open. You just need a mirror, a chair, towel and a pair of scissors. Oh, and shops selling chinese clogs are no longer in existence. These bright red wooden clogs are what people wear in the olden days. The last time I seen a shop selling these "char-kiak" was actually in Penang Malaysia. It's called char-kiak, because "char" means wood and "kiak" is the sound it makes, kiak kiak kiak.  :P

This is a mock up of traditional Chinese coffeeshop in the olden days. I love the nostalgic feel. Look at the bright calendar with a round metal plate, my grandma used to hang this at home. These traditional hot flasks are heavy, and I used to wonder how hot can the water keep, because they used to get little colder after a few hours. Big nice pots with chinese painting used to keep sugar in the coffeeshop, and the thick small kopi cups with matching saucers. The luggage reminds me of my Grandpa (he used to have a luggage like this).

Wow these comics from the 40s-60s! I remember my uncle used to pass me his comics like Dandy and Beano. I had a huge stack of these when I was young but I think they got thrown away. Otherwise, they can fetch a tidy sum today, I think.

These are the modern day comics and superheroes we know. The rooms were decorated real loud and colourful befitting the theme. SPM has different exhibitions at different times, so some of these are only temporary. SPM is really more of an educational place for kids, but glad I had the chance to browse and got a feel of the past again.