By Graham Shaw
Independence from France on November 9, 1951 brought with it a change to the Cambodian capital’s postmark. An example of the postmark prior to Independence Day is shown at Figure 1. The postmark just one week after the declaration of independence can be seen at Figure 2 with ‘R.P.’ added after PHNOMPENH and no star/block was used to separate the city’s name from the country name; the year shown in full is continued from that first seen in 1949.
Fig. 1: the pre-independence postmark of 1951.
Fig. 2: independence from France brought change to the postmark.Not long afterwards, on February 1, 1952, Cambodia officially issued its first set of postage stamps and with it came a modified version of the capital’s postmark, as shown at Figure 3; this postmark is probably quite familiar to many stamp collectors around the world and especially to those who collect stamps and FDC’s from the region and Cambodia specifically. However, this postmark is only a slight variation on the 1951 post-independence postmark shown at Figure 2, above.
Fig. 3: the postmark used with the first set of national postage stamps issued by independent Cambodia.
In 1952 we get the first glimpse of a dual Khmer (Cambodian) and French language postmark that continued throughout until the fall of Phnom Penh to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge genocidal regime in April 1975. The example shown at Figure 4 has the Khmer language for ‘Phnom Penh R.P. Cambodia’ written across the top and the English version, ‘Phnompenh R.P.’ written at the bottom; the space is so limited for each language that the postmark looks cramped; this 1952 example also shows – but only in French text – ‘Arrivee’. The main difference between this version (Fig.4) and that used later is that the year is shown in full, i.e. 1952, rather than abbreviated (Fig. 5), e.g. 54.
Fig. 4: the first sight of the dual language Khmer and English postmark.
Fig. 5: the standard Khmer and English postmark that dominated the 1960’s.
1954 gives us the sight of the full, standard dual language postmark that dominated the postmarks of 1960’s Cambodia. Figure 5 shows us the Khmer language at the top and a very cramped English text at the bottom that states, ‘Phnompenh R.P. Cambodge’.
Perhaps minds had changed again in the Government by 1958 as the standard dual language postmark moved once again from an abbreviated form of the year to including the date in full, as can be seen in Figure 6.
Fig. 6: date reverted back to 4 figures rather than an abbreviation.
Fig. 7: a variation of the standard dual language postmark.A variation to this standard of the late 1950’s and throughout the 1960’s is shown at Figure 7. The example has the Khmer language text at the bottom, right rather than across the top (as in Fig. 6), whereas the French text starts at the top, right and wraps around the postmark to the bottom rather than it all being shown at the bottom; the font used in this postmark variation is also different from that used on the standard mark.
In 1959, a further variation of the dual Khmer-French language postmark appeared in which the country name in both languages is not included, at Figure 8. In addition, the letter ‘A’ in both Khmer and French is added after the city name together with a bar to separate them, i.e. ‘PHNOMPENH_A’.
Fig. 8: no country name included in either language.
Fig. 9: French only and use of hyphens.Similar to the postmark first seen from around 1931, a variation appeared from 1959 (Figure 9) that excluded any Khmer language text. The city name is hyphenated, i.e. PHNOM-PENH, and the city and country name are separated for the first time by hyphens rather than the usual butterfly block.
1960 saw a variation to the 1958 dual-language postmark with the city and country name written along the sides rather than at the top and bottom, respectively. However, the 1960 version, as seen in Figure 10, has the French-language text running to just below the final digit of the year, whereas the 1958 version ends at the first digit of the year (see Fig. 7, above).
Fig. 10: variation on the 1958 dual language text along the sides of the postmark.
Fig. 11: variation on the previous year’s ‘_A’ postmark.It was also in 1960 that a variation of the 1959 postmark (see Fig. 8, above) is seen that includes the hyphen followed by ‘A’ after PHNOMPENH, but this time a postmark number is included, ‘7’, followed by a ‘*’ in the example shown at Figure 11.
Another variation of the 1958 and 1960 dual-language postmark appeared in 1963 with the French language text beginning at the top of the postmark and ending three-quarters of the way around, leaving very little space for the Khmer-language text, as seen in Figure 12, resulting in ‘Cambodia’ not being printed in Khmer.
Fig. 12: A further variation on the 1958 and 1960 dual-language postmark.
Fig. 13: an example of the Phnom Penh R.P. ‘Depart’ postmark.
The first example that I have been able to find of an explicit ‘Depart’ postmark is from 1966, as shown in Figure 13, coming directly after ‘PHNOMPENHR.P.’.
The tumultuous time in Cambodia during 1970 is also reflected in a major change in the format of the Phnom Penh postmark. Prior to the Coup d’Etate by Lon Nol and Sirik Matak that overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the standard dual-language postmark was in use, as seen in the January example at Figure 14. Following the coup, the postmark was redesigned completely resulting in the format as seen at Figure 15 (a and b). Of note in the new format for the postmark is the absence of a number for each specific postmark stamp and also the use of abbreviated letters rather than a number for the month, i.e. ‘DEC’ rather than ‘12’ for December 1970. In addition, the name of the country is not printed in either the Khmer or French language text of the postmark.
Fig. 14: Pre-Coup postmark of 1970.
Fig. 15a & b: Post-Coup postmarks of 1970 and 1971.
The pre-coup postmark continued to be used alongside the post-coup version, as shown in Figures 16 and 17 for March 28, 1972.
Fig. 16: Old-style of March 28, 1972.
Fig. 17: New-style of March 28, 1972.1971 saw the postmark revised slightly with the addition of a hyphen between the French language text of PHNOM_PENH R.P. at the bottom, as seen in Figure 18. In addition, C.O.D. is now included in the upper area between the Khmer language printed text and the horizontal date. However, the post-coup postmark without this hyphen and without the C.O.D. also continued to be used at this time (such as that shown at Fig. 17, above). The height of the space containing the Khmer and French language text also appears to be greater in the hyphenated and C.O.D. version than in the other post-coup version of the postmark.
Fig. 18: with hyphen, PHNOM_PENH R.P.
Fig. 19: new format not often seen.A new type of postmark appears in 1972, as shown in Figure 19. This is similar to the pre-coup type except that it includes what appears to be a number for the specific postmark (00 in this example) followed by a letter. In the example shown, it is possible that the ‘M’ might mean ‘Matin’ in French, or morning in English. The font size of the year in this postmark is larger than that appearing in other post-coup postmarks.
Another variation on the standard post-coup postmark appears in 1972, as shown in Figure 20(a) with a further example from 1974 shown at Figure 20(b). In both, the Khmer and French language text, ‘PHNOMPENH’, is followed by a hyphen ( - ) and then the number ‘1’. The reason for this is not yet known. The French language text in Fig. 20 may seem to show the letter ‘D’, but this is simply the numeral ‘I’ with a mark directly after the number; the Khmer version is a distinctive number ‘1’ in the Cambodian language. Of note is also the lack of ‘R.P.’ after the city name in either the Khmer of French language text.
Fig. 20 (a, b): the unusual PHNOMPENH – I from 1972 and 1974.
Some concerns have been expressed in philatelic circles over the past couple of years as to whether a series of FDC’s for the Copernicus set of 1974 are genuine. Such concerns appear to originate from the Phnom Penh postmarks on such FDC covers. Even if genuine, my hunch is that they were never postally used as they appear far too fresh to have seen general use. In addition, the example shown in Figure 21 shows a full-stop following the abbreviated version of Septembre, i.e. ‘SEP.’; when compared to other post-coup versions of this standard postmark, none of them – without exception – include a full-stop after the month.
Fig. 21: could this be a fake 1974 postmark?
Fig. 22 (a, b): Mar. & Dec. ’74 used to Europe.
Furthermore, the dimensions of the arc containing the Khmer and French language text at the top and bottom of the postmark differ from all other versions of this standard post-coup postmark. One final observation: the font used for the numbers in the date differ markedly from those seen on any of the previous post-coup postmarks. Compare the format and font of the 10 Sep. 1974 postmark with that from an envelope sent 13 Dec 1974 and from a FDC issued 9 Oct 1974, respectively, as seen at Figure 22 (a) and (b) and make your own conclusions!
Fig. 23: 8 April 1975, a week before the fall of the capital to Pol Pot’s forces.
Fig. 24: postmarked 5 days before Phnom Penh fell.Phnom Penh fell completely under the control of the Khmer Rouge forces from the early morning of 17 April 1975; it is assumed that the post office closed before this date and that airmail departing from Phnom Penh ceased several days beforehand as Pochentong Airport – then, as now, the capital’s passenger airport - was taken by Khmer Rouge forces before the centre of Phnom Penh was seized. Figures 23 and 24 show postmarks for April 8 and April 12, 1975, respectively, although Fig. 24 might be akin to Fig. 21 – i.e. a fake! - due to its inconsistencies.
The postal service to and from Phnom Penh, and the rest of Cambodia, then fell silent for the general public for over three years.
Part 3 in this series will cover the period from 1980 to 1991.