Running very far behind on my overseas collection... I am still catching up with my scanning although only for the prior years ones since our borders are closed. Praying for the coronavirus to be defeated soon so that the foreign mice ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ can cross the sea (grin).
My very first mice set to take the stage is non other than my personal favorite from Antalis Hong Kong which I have actually received early last year before CNY but never had the time to scan them into my collection. Yes scanning is extremely time consuming especially for a big set like Antalis. This treasure box has 12 tall size packets and another 4 shorties that comes in 6 different mini cat and mouse theme. Do hop over to my Facebook page for a close up review of these beauties (2020 Antalis HK) or better still catch their latest 2021 designs that I have featured for them once again (2021 Antalis HK),
Presenting the pinwheels or paper windmills that carries the traditional belief of turning bad luck into good blessings and my wish is just bring me all my long overdue angpows (lol). Both MOKO and MTR Malls brought us beautifully illustrated pinwheels in 2019. Unfortunately they were just not enough to keep the coronavirus away... we need more power!!
Fly, fly high Virgin Atlantic!! We definitely need you to reunite the collectors and all the lovely money packets. My first ever VA set that I managed to trade last year. I have been admiring their 9pcs small size ap sets since I joined one of the facebook angpow group back in 2015. It was such a premium set then which I believe still is. These premium sets are normally available through purchase only but I guess the angpow collection community has changed very much over the last few years. The senior collectors then has kind of closed their doors to the public while a new generation of collectors emerge.
PIGGIES FIRST, mOUSY DON'T KNOW YET... ╮ (. ❛ ❛ _.) ╭
Newly added is Giordano fat little pig with it's behind up front and face behind, definitely one of the rarer presentation. They have also designed a coin-flap that resembles putting a coin into a piggy bank when the flap is folded down. I love it! Next we have Starbucks from Taiwan which is sharing the same piggies as Singapore while from Hong Kong the zodiac continues from their 2017 chicks skipping 2018 with just paw prints.
Also from Taiwan we have Trend Micro yellow boar floating by in a tiny hot air balloon. Next is the bold and stunning embossed geometric pig and gold fish art work from VMWare that I am loving so much thanks to both my sidekicks. Below we have McDull & friends, the pig greeting the year of pig ><
While I only have a pair of Hong Kong Antalis embroidered fish pair from 2017, this year super pig managed to fly into my collection. This superhero literally flies when you pull the insert upwards, power!! The creative mind behind these powerful beauties is Eric Chan and he has also designed the porky pair for Asia Allied Infrastructure & Chun Wo, chubbies!
Hong Kong Post continues with their two version of zodiac stamps and this year little chubbies are adorable. Find the previous HK Post series ( since 2010 ) in my FB album here. My beloved Swarovski Crystals are next and the pig is absolutely my favorite so far and wait till you see the swan from Malaysia, oh so gorgeous! Check out the other two that my BFF brought back from HK as well, the 2016 floral pair and 2017 Fu.
The piggies continue to delight us with colorful and adorable illustration; The TSL porky is up front while it's eleven other zodiac friends are gathering behind; BCT pinky is lion dancing up front while it's partner drums away behind; Kielh's cool biker is seen cruising in style by a pharmacy; Genting golden pig is shining bright in a hot pink background.
The financial kings and queens are here to give us their beautiful angpows and we have a all purple mother-child pair from Franklin Templeton with their piggies blind embossed. The pink lady pair from Legg Mason is soft and sweet while from the insurance companies we have a set of two mother-child pair from MetLife as well as the single flowery Prudential vs also a single design, the all yellow tall AIA buildings.
Some of the year on year starting with Manulife, the unique color mix from their 2015 pair and another round in 2017 with a more meaningful Koi fishes and fortune bats illustration. 2019 sees them in a softer shade of orange and pink but still bringing us the auspicious Chinese characters, "big bold in gold"! Deutsche Bank brought a little pink in 2019 while continuing to deliver their golden character "Fu" and maintaining the flap design since 2017. Below we have another two money packets that my collector pal managed to hunt from her friends in Australia and I am just lucky to enjoy the ride along. Westpac Private Bank has a golden embossed floral boar while Bank of Melbourne uses hot-stamping for it's bird, butterflies and blossom branch.
Adding on a few more singles with CIBC glittering ball of floral patterns, Vistra cheongsam has less shine but is thick while BOC has given collectors golden peonies. HSBC Jade is just strikingly beautiful with big and sweet pink peonies from the back to the front vs their normal version of a red hot-stamping peonies in a tall and short pair.
Moving on to the developers, we have a glittering elegant flower mother-child pair from Chinachem as well as a few from Sun Hung Kai Properties. They have been rather consistent with their mother-child pairing as well as the same flap design since 2016. The 2019 gold fish-porky-floral trio is vibrant with the use of bright magenta and the mysterious purple. Also a trio with a mother piece featuring fishes and a child piece with floral, their 2016 carried a more lighter tone while their 2015 puffed up quite an adorable world of pufferfish. My prize winning set from them is definitely the tuxedo roosters with not just three but six of them. Yup I am missing the year 2018, anyone care to share the design? Just hop over to my facebook page and leave me a comment!
Apryl passed me a shoe box of mix random money packets from Hong Kong last year (2019) and I have not got the chance to sort them out since. I finally found some time to do so and managed to picked up a few interesting ones. Coincidentally one of which is an old design of APM Sun Hung Kai Properties illustration by Carrie Chao, quite a unique style I find. Unfortunately I could not find any of her latest work.
Before moving on to a couple more of the small size packets, lets get adored by the one and only Doraemon and his girlfriend Noramyako brought to us by Mcdonald, a popular family favorite hangout no matter where you are. Below are the kids from Learning Habitat and the poodle from Hot Tails Salon. Next is Merry Go Parties, a sweet lovely piece that I got as a freebie from a collector in Penang.
It's all about the pets and besides Animal Friends kitty & doggy pair we also have a 3 years series from Charity Bazaar 4stray Animals which I am lucky to get from Apryl through her contacts in Hong Kong. Although unlikely to get any 2020 packets anytime soon (due to the pandemic), I must stay positive and hope for the best. Before moving on to the China packets we have a lovely hotel piece from Cordis while from the Jockey Club the horsey are all ready to run the race, each carrying their own lucky charm! Anyone tried Hang Heung famous "wife biscuits" and egg rolls? I guess it's another wish-list for those who missed travelling.
C H I N A
While I traded the above 6pcs Cheering Show set this year (2019), I only realized the printing behind the cover stated otherwise and so are the zodiac appearing on the back of the packets. Anyway it was a good deal therefore no reason not to proceed even though I am quite certain the collector is also a seller. I do have quite a few encounters with collectors who will exchange to sell. Does make me think twice whether I should encourage them at times (grin).
Here comes the tall 'mother' and shorty 'kiddo', the adorable porkies from Ping An as well as You Li You Jie (有礼有节), the latter is absolutely a delightful set bringing out the god, peasants, scholars and the warriors all in my favorite sweet shades. Below is 慶雅集 Celebration Season by Pinshi with their elegant 3pcs cheongsam that is thick and smooth in quality.
For more of my latest collection, please visit my facebook page or get the links to my collection by years via my facebook album here. (๑‵●‿●‵๑)