Thailand issued world longest stamp to mark late king lengthy reign
On April 1, Thailand Post issued a sheet of five stamps—the longest the world have seen, at 170 mm in length—to mark the 70th anniversary of late King Rama IX’s accession to the throne. Each of the five stamps features the same design, which includes a series photographs of the king set against a background of luscious green fields. Nine million stamps were printed by the Thai British Security Printing Public Company.
The launch of the record longest stamp sets drew interest from stamp collectors and people to queue up at all post offices in the country to purchase the stamps. The record set of five stamps contain 6 images of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej at work with 6 major research and development centers which were launched by His Majesty for the benefit of the Thai people serving as the backdrop.
All these images are joined in a set of stamps that will break the existing world record for the longest set of stamps currently held by Nile River and Singapore River stamp sets. The length of 170 millimeter is significant in that it represents His Majesty’s 70th birthday anniversary which is the only one of its kind in the world.
These set of stamps is a celebration as well as a remembrance of His Majesty King Bhumibol or King Rama 9’s glorious reign and tireless efforts for the betterment of his subjects. Another point of major interest is the fact that these stamps will employ the Asian Stamp Application technology ingrained within the Thailand Post’s logo which when scanned will generate a 9 minute long video of all the 6 Royal initiated research and development centers.
The videos showcases the history as well the work that these centers has carried out which when considered makes them ‘living stamps’ able to interact with humans. The stamps are priced at 9 baht each and one complete set will contain 5 stamps at total price of 45 baht.
FREE POSTCARDS
Last November, Thailand Post printed 9,999,999 commemorative stamps and postcards to distribute among the public at no cost. The free postcards were affixed with a one-baht stamp depicting Rama IX in military uniform and cancelled on Oct. 13, 2016, the day the former king died.
The stamps and postcards were handed out for free—one per person—via online registration as well as at all postal offices across Thailand from Nov. 7-30, 2016.
