The curious tale of Bhutan's playable record postage stamps (2015)

Summary

December 30, 2015 In Features Made of plastic and embossed with a melody, these tiny record stamps are among the strangest, most enchanting bits of vinyl out there. Chris May investigates how the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan came to produce the world’s “first talking stamps”. Quite possibly the smallest vinyl records that can still be played with a stylus, those of you after a set will be happy to know the stamps still sporadically appear on eBay, with prices pushed up by that geekiest of venn diagrams between stamp and record collectors. Listen to a haunting version of the Bhutanese national anthem, as recorded from a stamp, below. If you’re looking to make a smart investment in vinyl, among the most promising items to look out for right now are a set of Bhutanese talking-stamps. Issued in 1972 in a set of seven, the stamps are miniature, one-sided, 33 1⁄3 rpm vinyl records playable on a standard turntable. You peeled off the backing paper and stuck them on an envelope or postcard. Content includes Bhutanese folk songs and histories of the country in English and Dzongkha, the local language. For decades, the stamps were dismissed by the philatelic establishment as tacky novelties and were, correspondingly, as cheap as chips. In 1993, when they were first listed in the collectors’ bible, Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, a mint condition set was valued at around £17, the equivalent of £28 at 2015 prices. But following their recent discovery by collectors of rare vinyl, particularly in the US, you will be lucky to pick a set up for less than £300. Some observers predict the price will double, or even triple, over the next few years. Bhutan’s talking stamps were the invention of the American adventurer Burt Todd, who was born into a wealthy Pittsburgh steel-producing dynasty in 1924. Appropriately, this was the same year F. Scott Fitzgerald completed The Great Gatsby, for the globe-trotting, airplane-piloting, big game-hunting Todd resembled the novel’s protagon...