Throughout the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, a special postmark was made available at the Youth Olympic Village (YOV). This postmark certainly resembles the metal date stamp found in post offices around Singapore. As the Youth Olympic Village was not open to public, my friend Terence Wong helped to make arrangements to obtain this postmark on 26 August, to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games.

The Youth Olympic Village, located in Nanyang Technological University, is home to more than 5000 athletes and team officials during the period of the Games. These guests are invited to participate in the Culture and Education Programme (CEP) during their stay in the Village.

The National Day stamp issue for this year will be released early on Wednesday, 4 August 2010. Six monuments will be featured this time, the third of the National Monuments series. The designer for this issue is Leo Teck Chong. He was also the designer for the recently issued Starfish postage prepaid envelope.

The six national monuments include the Bowyer Block (1st Local), College of Medicine Building (2nd Local), Command House (55c), the Hwa Chong Institution Clock Tower (65c), the former Raffles College campus (80c) and the Tan Teck Guan Building ($1.10). These six monuments are also found on the $2 miniature sheet, featuring the architectural links between Singapore’s past and present built heritage.

To commemorate National Day, the NDP 2010 Logo will be featured as the datestamp.

The theme for last year’s National Day stamp issue was Sculptures, where the masterpieces of seven sculptors are featured.

This month, three notable Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games philatelic products from Singapore Post have caught the attention of collectors worldwide.

This colourful illustration book brings you through the journey, from Singapore winning the bid for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games to the launching of the event. This commemorative book includes the stamps since Singapore won the bid and is an excellent souvenir. Price: $59.90 (US$44)

If you missed the sale for the first day covers in 2008 and 2009, here’s another chance. This attractive First Day Cover Pack houses the three different covers (2008, 2009 and 2010) issued to commemorate the Youth Olympic Games in a specially designed folder. Price: $19.90

This A5-sized MyStamp sheet comes with the latest Singapore 2010 stamps, with the mascots Lyo and Merly and the official Singapore 2010 emblem. For an additional fee, personalise this stamp sheet with your own photographs, perhaps at the Youth Olympic Games. Price: $15.50

Note: The prices shown above are inclusive of GST for purchases within Singapore. Images by Singapore Post.

Not long ago, I received a few colourful Canadian and Netherlands stamps, some of which are related to my stamp collecting theme of sports and nature. These stamps certainly show the heritage of the countries. Of course, many thanks to Alicia for the stamps and scan.

On 7 July 2010, Singapore Post issued the Seashore – Starfish postage prepaid envelope. These envelopes can be purchased at post offices and use them to send letters of up to 20 g to local addresses. These prepaid envelopes can be purchased either in a bundle of 10 for S$3.50 or for 40 cents each, a la carte. Designed by Leo Teck Chong, these envelopes provide consumers with added convenience, especially by saving time on affixing a postage stamp.

This is a continuation of the Seashore theme, where a postage prepaid envelope from the same series on Seashells was issued previously. Some time ago, we also featured the Gardens of Singapore prepaid envelope (1994) which is available in two different sizes, DL and C6. It would definitely be great if postage prepaid envelopes were still sold in different dimensions to cater to different needs.