Korean Stamp Catalogue (1946 – 2015) (조선우표목록)

The most recent edition of the (DPRK/North) Korean Stamp Catalogue or “조선우표목록” is the 10th edition (2016) containing all the stamps published by the DPRK between March 1946 and early November 2015. This catalogue was first reviewed by Taizo Maeda in the August 2003 edition of the KP (Vol. 49, No. 3). 

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South Korean Revenue Stamps Issued Under U.S. Military Rule: On Document

I have found the collecting of Korean revenue stamps to be very challenging. Revenue stamps have not been much valued in South Korea, itself, and, until the publication of Stephen Hasegawa’s The Standard Catalogue of Korean Revenue Stamps in 2005, there was not a good resource for identifying Korean revenue stamps. (Hasegawa’s catalogue will be […]

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Focus on Forgeries – Korea 1963 20-won Meesun Blossoms

In 1967, Seoul police broke up a large counterfeiting ring that included post office officials. The group had forged 20-won, 40w, 50w and 100w definitives, sold by clerks who received a commission on their sales. Forgeries amounted to about 10 percent of sales for several months at some post offices. As with most postal forgeries, […]

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Korean Cover to President Roosevelt

What can be said about this cover (Figure 1) addressed to President [Theodore] Roosevelt? The cover has a return address of “Pyeng Yang, Korea, Japan,” which is interesting. The cover is addressed simply to “President Roosevelt, Washington, USA.” The front of the cover contains a strip of five Japanese stamps with three faint circular cancels […]

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Anything Can Happen These Days: North Korean Overprints

We have quite a good number of hard-to-get items issued by the North Korean government since their establishment as a nation. They have been long-time targets of pursuit by (North) Korean riff-raff who have given up only a few, if any, materials for their study. In the past decade, however, a Korean-American dealer who claims […]

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