Entire of Tae Geuk stamps with Imchisa markings in Gärtner auction

1895/96, Tae Geuk 5 P. bluish green resp. 10 P. dull blue (3 mm pulled perfs and handwriting of addressee) tied bisected circle “Impa Kwangmu 5.7.11” (July 11, 1901) to reverse of cover (creases) via “Oggang 5.7.13” to Seoul w. arrival “Hansung 5.7.18”. Impa was a temporary p.o. (imchisa) in Cheonrapukdo province. 15 P. old currency account for 3 Ch. new currency, so basic domestic letter rate. Not many entires of Tae Geuk stamps with Imchisa markings survived, cert. Eichhorn BPP (2013) (T)

“Temporary” in the auction description should be adjusted to “Provisional”. “Oggang” should be “Okku” (old name of Kunsan/Gunsan).

Glossary:

• Impa =  臨陂
• Okku =  沃溝
• Imchisa (Imsisa) =  臨時司, or full designation Imchiuch’esa =  臨時郵逓司
• Cheonrapukdo or North Chonra province =  全羅北道

This is a registered cover from a provisional post office manned by a town major or borough head. Old Korea then had p.o. 1st and 2nd class manned by postal officials, 1 postmaster and several postal clerks. These p.o.’s supervised a few “receiving agencies” in branches within Seoul and Busan, railway stations or the Gwendoline mining area. A full list of these p.o.’s and agencies (in hanja characters and hangul) is on page 15 of the KPC 2014-2015 (last published I think) stamp catalog with opening dates.

KIM Jae-Sung in his essential book “The facts of korean classic stamps” (Busan, Imje University Press 1998) gives a much more detailed, chronological list of these p.o.’s and branches on pp. 205-232 with opening dates and re-classifications including referring to official notifications from the govt. gazette. The whole rest, 300+ installations were Provisional Post Offices (imchisa).

KIM on page 232 relates:
Postal service network as of Dec. 1903

• Headquarter p.o. 1
• 1st grade p.o. 16
• 2nd grade p.o. 27
• Branch p.o. 3
• Post Station 2
• Provisional p.o. 304

Total 353

Ibid footnote 9: “Provisional post office had not its own office and postal clerks. Postal services, as well as postage stamp sales, mail receiving and dispatching were done by the local head borough, but the cancelers were officially supplied by the Communications bureau or authority.” KIM p. 168/172 has also a chapter “Differences between Branch Post Office and Post Station” with the relevant details.