In the Korean Philately of August 2005 a short correspondence between Greg Todd and Robin Ko from Robin Philatelics was published. They corresponded regarding a version of a North Korean stamp sheet which Greg Todd had seen in an auction but which looked rather distinct.
Here is the original as printed in the KP:
“The following figure is from Corbitts (Newcastle) auction, identified as North Korea SS-1158. Can anyone tell us if it is genuine or not?
Greg Todd
[Robin Ko, Robin Philatelics, responded:]
This is a genuine sheetlet, but only printer’s waste. Lately, DPRK’s printer’s waste started to show up in the stamp market, and I bought some, too, through the DPRK post agent in Beijing in China.
[And the reply back from Greg:]
Thank you….. This is exactly what I had begun to think through correspond-nce with a Polish guy. He said they were about on the Eastern European market (Czech), too. Bless you for your help.”
(Originally from KP August 2005, Vol. 50, No. 3)
Turns out one of these sheets is still available online at Cherrystone, from which this picture comes:
Cherrystones describes this as “1999 Darwin, imperf. sheetlet of five with background inverted, likely printer’s waste, with Greg Todd certificate”. And there, with the Greg Todd certificate, this story has come full circle.
