Philatelic News

Following the complete release of the Lunar New Year series of Frama postage labels, the Hong Kong Post installed two new postage label vending machines at the General Post Office on Hong Kong island and the Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office in Kowloon. They were officially opened to the public on 7 December 1998 and offered automatic services round the clock.

These two postage vending machines were manufactured by a German Company, Nagler Automaten Technik Gmbh.

They are capable of printing labels within the value range of 10 cents to 270 dollars. They accept all Hong Kong coins with the denomination from 10 cents to $10, with changes given.

The machine has six pre-set buttons covering the regular postage in Hong Kong ($1.2, $1.3, $1.6, $2.1, $2.5, $3.1). In addition, there are five other pre-set buttons which can accept bulk printing orders for 5 or 10 numbers of designated values of labels ($0.1, $0.5, $1.3, $2.5, $3.1) at one time.

To cope with the use of the new vending machines, a new type of postage label was also issued on the same day. The new label was designed by Mr. Shun-kwong Kwan, with clusters of colourful flowers and the Chinese characters “Hong Kong” forming its main background. The value is printed in black across the upper portion of the label. The official name of “Hong Kong, China” appears horizontally as small English and Chinese characters on the lower portion of the label. The label measures 43 mm by 26 mm and the design is quite modern and refreshing. Two semi-circular holes were punched on both the upper and lower margin of the label.

There are also vertical phosphor bands on both sides of the label as part of the anti-forgery measures. For the very first time, the labels are printed with papers rich in fiber tissues to prevent forgery. Tiny blue and red threads of fiber can be seen from the back of these labels.