By Graham Shaw
1894 is the earliest example of a Phnom Penh postmark that I can find that clearly depicts the name of the city, using the spelling ‘Pnom Penh’, i.e. no ‘h’ in ‘Phnom’. The date format is printed horizontally in the centre of the postmark in three rows with the posting number (indicating which part of the day the item was posted) and day shown (using numbers) on the top, the month (using 3 letters) in the centre, and the year (using 2 numbers) at the bottom. The date is encircled by a black printed ring around which ‘Pnom Penh’ is printed at the top of the postmark and ‘Cambodge’ at the bottom, both of which are surrounded by a further black printed circle (see Figure 1).
Fig. 1: 1894 example of the Pnom Penh postmark
1904 is the first appearance of Pnum Penh, Cambodge, whilst the previous Phnom Penh continued at the same time; the rest of the postmark format remained the same (see Figures 2 and 3).
Fig. 2: 1904
Pnum Fig. 3: 1904 Pnom
In 1906, we see an example of a change to both the date format as well as the city name in the postmark. Figure 5 shows the first example that I can find of a ‘h’ in the Phnom Penh postmark. In addition, the date format in the centre of the postmark, whilst still horizontal, is now shown in two rows rather than three and as having the day (using a number, as previously) followed by a black mark and then the month, but now using a number rather than an abbreviation as used up until this point; the year is then shown on the second row using numbers as before. A dash has also been included between ‘Phnom’ and ‘Penh’, i.e. Phnom-Penh.
Fig. 4: 1906 Pnom Fig. 5: 1906 Pnum Fig. 6: 1906 Phnom Penh
1906 is the first time that three different spellings for the Cambodian capital have been used as part of the postmark at the same time: Pnom (Fig. 4), Pnum (Fig. 5) and Phnom (Fig. 6). Some might find the font and the spacing of the 1906 Phnom Penh postmark slightly strange, perhaps indicating that it is a forgery. However, the type of postmark appears on a cover from 1925 (Fig. 7), maybe indicating that the ‘Phnom’ version was in constant use since around 1906 to the present day.
It is also from around 1925 that the use of a specific number above the day and date line appears, denoting which specific postmark was used and, possibly, thereby relating to which specific post office counter and/or post office official was using that postmark. Whilst the number of rows in the centre of the postmark of 1925 remains three, the posting number (indicating which part of the day the item was posted) has been removed. The first line shows the postmark number, e.g. 7, the second line shows the day followed by a dash (-) and then the month shown as a number rather than as an alphabetic appreviation in French; the third line remains as before, i.e. the year, abbreviated to the final two numbers, e.g. 25 for 1925.
Fig. 7: the Phnom Penh postmark of 1925.
Fig. 8: a postmark from 1926 showing the new format more clearly.Furthermore, a star was used to separate the name of the city – Phnom Penh – from the name of the country, Cambodia, whereas previous versions of the postmark simply left an empty space between them. Figure 8, from 1926, shows these new features of the postmark more clearly as well as the removal of the printed inner ring of the postmark that had kept ‘Phnom Penh Cambodge’ separate from the horizontal information printed in the centre of the postmark.
Fig. 9: a 1927 postmark combining the older and newer approaches.However, use of the new format postmark was inconsistent; the older forms of the postmark were kept in use for some considerable time. Variations on this new format also appear, as shown in the 1927 example (Figure 9) of the ‘PNOM’ variety whereby no star, nor space, exists to separate ‘PNOMPENH’ from ‘CAMBODGE’. 1928 gives us examples of three versions of the Phnom Penh postmark in operation at the same time.
Fig. 10: with star separation between city and country name.
Fig. 11: without star separation between city and country name.
Fig. 12: with inner circle separation between date and city / country.1938 provides us with an interesting example of a dual postmark, as seen at Figure 13. This postmark includes PNOMPENH together with MONGKOLBOREY, a town in Battambang Province. This type of postmark was used by the railway system.
Fig. 13: Dual postmark.It was not until 1939 that we see any major changes to the Phnom Penh postmark’; the city and country names were moved from their previous places at the top (Phnom Penh) and the bottom (Cambodge) of the postmark to each side of the postmark, respectively, i.e. ‘Phnom Penh’ on the left and ‘Cambodge’ on the right. An example of this is at Figure 14. I can find no examples of this changed postmark prior to 1939.
Fig. 14: city and country names moved from the top / bottom to the sides of the postmark.
Fig. 15: the first example seen of the hyphenated PNOM-PENH.Another change is found by 1940 with a modification to the older city name ‘Pnom Penh’ by adding a hyphen (-) to separate the two words, i.e. PNOM-PENH, as shown in Figure 15.
By 1949, machine printed stamps with accompanying postmarks can be seen, as shown in Figure 16, where the hyphen remains – as it has done since around 1906 – between PHNOM and PENH. This is also the first example I can find of ‘R.P.’ being included in the postmark. The older forms of the postmark continued to be used, however.
Fig. 16: machine printed postmark including the now commonly seen ‘R.P.’ designation.
Fig. 17: the year is shown in full.1949 saw the first time that the year was printed in full, i.e. using all four numerals rather than abbreviated two numbers, on the postmarks of the Cambodian capital, an example of which is shown in Figure 17.
Part 2 of this series will cover the Phnom Penh postmarks of 1950 to 1975.