Thursday, February 2, 2017

Malaysian Serama Stamp

Pos Malaysia Bhd(Pos Malaysia)has chosen to issue stamps featuring the Malaysian Serama, a prominent breed of rooster known for its protruding chest, in conjunction with this year's Chinese New Year. Serama is a breed that originated in Malaysia within the last 50 years.

It will again feature the Bantam but this time it is Serama, a breed of Malaysian origin.

The previous Bantam issue was in 2001 where a set of stamps and 2 MS (perforated and imperforated) were issued. This was followed by a Phila Nippon ’01 Overprint.

The Malaysian Serama is the world's smallest chicken, weighing just around 350gm to 500gm. This pygmy chicken was first bred in the Malaysian state of Kelantan during the 1970's by cross-breeding local jungle fowl with various other chicken breeds such as the Japanese bantam and Malaysian bantam.

The most prominent feature of the Serama is its upright, well-developed and muscular body with a protruding chest. Its legs are fairly long and straight with perpendicular wings held down, levelling to the ground. The colours of their feathers range from red to white and black, but golden yellow, red, lemon, black red and yellow-browns are most desirable in Malaysia. The tail carriage is normally vertical and held upright with overlapping feathers in a shape that is known as ‘susun sirih’ in Malay, or overlapping betel leaves. The sickle feathers, which are prominent in the male Serama, are situated at the base of the tail. They are usually longer and come in pairs, which are of the same length and proportion. The head of the Serama is small and leaned backwards. Its comb is always red in colour, while its earlobes are sometimes red and white. Its curved beak is a combination of yellow and olive green and the same colour combination is observed on its feet.

 Serama beauty competitions are held all over the country and around the world. In a beauty competition, a Serama should appear confident and striding, in a fearless and dominant demeanour on stage, or in its case, a table top. Its performance is judged by its posturing, flapping of its wings and moving in circular motion. Points are usually awarded in a structured scoring system, such as colour, sickle feather, tail carriage, wings, feet and legs, body, head, feather condition and overall style.

There are in general eight categories of Serama in these competitions -- Serama A (adult male below 350gm), Serama B (adult male above 350gm - 500gm), Anak Serama (chicks) A & B, Serama Muda (young male), Serama Remaja (adolescent male), Serama Induk/betina (female) and Serama Tanpa Lawi or ABS (‘Ayam Belum Siap’ or adult male without sickle).






Technical Details:

Stamps
85sen : Serama A & Serama Remaja
95sen : Serama B, Serama Induk & Anak Serama
RM1.05 : Serama Muda & Serama Tanpa Lawi

Miniature Sheet
The Chinese painting in the Miniature Sheet depicts the auspicious traits of the traditional rooster with a large red crown and long, curved sickle in a cock-crowing position. The upright stance, protruding chest and golden-yellow colour are the typical desired traits of the Malaysian Serama. The Chinese character reads 'Jin Ji Bao Xi, Yi Ming Tian Xia Bai', which means 'The golden rooster calls, to announce the dawn and celebration of a glorious new day"

First Day Cover with Stamp RM3.35

First Day Cover with Miniature Sheet RM3.50

First Day Cover with Miniature Sheet RM8.50

Miniature Sheet RM3.00

Miniature Sheet RM8.00

Folder RM 6.00


The designer is Reign Associates Sdn Bhd (Mr KY Lim).

Chinese Painting by: Dr Wong Kum Peng


Acknowledgements :
Kelab Serama Selangor & Kuala Lumpur
Serama Zam Subang (Norzamini Tukiban)
The Art of Serama Malaysia (Lee Kok Hoong)





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