Cambodia Musical Instrument Issues of 1971 and 1975

By Graham Shaw

For many collectors of Cambodian postal history, the period towards the end of the Lon Nol regime in 1974-1975 is a particularly exciting, if tragic, era. As the forces of the communist Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pol (his real name was Saloth Sar), took over control of more and more Cambodian territory, the number of towns and cities under the control of the Lon Nol authority rapidly dwindled until the capital, Phnom Penh, finally fell on April 17, 1975.

It was during this time of upheaval that several stamp issues of the then Republic of Cambodia (also known as the 'Republique Khmere' in the French language) were printed but little appears to be known about the extent to which they became postally used (i.e. stamps used by the general public for sending normal mail and parcels, etc.), nor the story behind their respective issuance.

One set of stamps in particular, depicting eight (8) traditional Khmer musical instruments with surcharges overprinted on each, has had a somewhat mysterious background. An entry in the 1997 stamp catalogue of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) of the Royal Government shows the original set as being printed in, or around, 1971 without any surcharge and containing the country name of the Kingdom of Cambodia (i.e. Cambodge) rather than the 'Republique Khmere' that came into existence in March 1970; this set was never issued (i.e. 'non emis').

The same 1997 MPTC catalogue also has an entry for the surcharged set of eight (8) stamps that can often bring relatively high prices at auction but which are rarely offered as a complete set.

All of the main international stamp catalogues contain references to the surcharged set but not always to the unissued originals from around 1971. The 2004 Scott catalogue, for example, provides the following entry for the surcharged items:

Figure 3: The Scott catalogue entry for the surcharged set.

Figure 4: The entry in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue, Part 21, 4th Edition.

The Michel 2003 catalogue includes the following:

As can be seen, there is some disagreement between the respective catalogues as to the postal status of the surcharged musical instrument set, although SG and Michel both agree on an issue date of March 26, 1975. Even the 1997 MPTC catalogue gives the impression that the set was issued for use by the general public.

However, information has come to light from a senior source within the MPTC who worked in the Central Post Office in Phnom Penh during that chaotic period. The source states that the stamps were printed in France and transported by ship to Cambodia's only deep-sea port of Sihanoukville (also known as Kampong Som).

After being unloaded from the ship, the stamps were put into a warehouse before their planned transportation to the capital, Phnom Penh. However, sometime in either late 1974 or early 1975 the shipment of stamps was stolen from the warehouse in Sihanoukville and disappeared.

It was some months later, according to the MPTC source, that a woman was detained by authorities in Phnom Penh for trying to sell some of the stolen sets; some sets she was selling contained the surcharged items and some did not. This would, perhaps, explain why there are only a limited of both sets apparently in existence, assuming that the original haul stolen from the Sihanoukville warehouse were destroyed immediately or during the murderous Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975 to late 1978 (and beyond in some remoter areas of Cambodia).

Figure 7: The complete set of the surcharged stamps issued March 1975.

However, as many collectors of Cambodian stamps know, the most commonly available surcharged stamps of this set are the 235r (Riel), 500r and 2,000r. It is not yet known why this is the case. If the stamps were being overprinted with the surcharge in Sihanoukville, it is possible that the total number of of stamps with the 235r, 500r and 2,000r overprint had already been completed whereas the other stamps, with 5r, 20r, 160r and 1,000r, were still in the process of being overprinted when they were stolen, in whole or in part.

Contrary to claims by some in the philatelic business, the set of eight overprinted stamps were officially issued for use by the general public on March 26, 1975, as clearly shown in a copy of the memo shown below.

Figure 8: A copy of the French-language version of the memo officially recording the issuance of the surcharged musical instrument set on 26 March 1975, signed by Kim Kosol of the MPTC.

More research is required to uncover the full story of this set of stamps. Hopefully the answers can be found from further discussions with the older, and retired, staff of the MPTC in Phnom Penh who actually worked at the Central Post Office during those years and lived to tell the tale!

With thanks to Norman Davis for his assistance with this article.