The curious tale of Bhutan's playable record postage stamps (2015)
8 comments
·May 21, 2025gerdesj
"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. "
I work in IT. I used to be a philatelist (can you stop?). How on earth did I never think of this.
It makes those bloody awful business card CDs (off of the 90s n noughties) look pretty naff.
Barking mad and quite beautiful. Love it!
xattt
Given the timelines and lead times for production, I assume this was conceptualized on a mid-1960s acid trip.
NaOH
Previous discussion:
The curious tale of Bhutan's playable record postage stamps (2015) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22896682 - April 2020 (30 comments)
dtgriscom
Does anyone know how large these stamps are? (I didn't see any dimensions in the article.)
Rediscover
Interesting! Now I'm wondering if Leighton or Feynman was aware of these stamps (my ddg/google-fu is bad today).
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FridayoLeary
I find it fascinating that something so inherently worthless like stamps can sell for such large sums. Old fashioned NFT's?
These stamps however are very cool. And the prices are actually reasonable.
In case you’re curious how they sound:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H0DXyCiKbDI