Post WWII and the use of Japanese Showa stamps in North Korea

Kiku Shimbun 169 (August 2016) featured an article about the use of Japanese Showa stamps in North Korea after late 1945. The article is reprinted here by permission. Parts of this article were from a translation of ‘The Specialised Catalogue of Showa Stamps’ with the translation being carried out by our member Nicholas Pertwee. The […]

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His Corean Majesty Customs Jenchuan Cancellation: genuine or not?

A request for information by Australian KSS member Robert Finder: “I have had this for some time, but do not know what it really is. The used #1 is extremely rare and only a few copies are recorded. This pair has a certificate and a lineage from auctions, but I don’t know if it is […]

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How the Korean Seals Began in 1932 And How to Determine the Differences between the 1936 Reprint

The Korean seals known most widely as Christmas and New Year seals are actually tuberculosis seals. Dr. Sherwood Hall, who was born in Seoul Korea in 1893, devoted his life to medical missions with his wife, Dr. Marian B. Hall in Korea. Dr. Hall was the founder of the first tuberculosis hospital, “School of Hygiene […]

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Examples from the National Archives of Korea (NAK) online database

After learning about the existence of the online database of the National Archives of Korea (NAK) I quickly discovered a treasure trove of documents related to Korean philately. Thousands of documents with listings of stamp values, revenue stamps issues (including local revenue stamps) and meter marks, often even shown with (simple) drawings. And that’s just the […]

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“The Two Koreas’ Societies Reflected In Stamps” by Gabriel Jonsson

The article “The Two Koreas’ Societies Reflected In Stamps”, written by Gabriel Jonsson, was published in “East Asia” magazine in 2005. Mr. Jonsson is currently working as researcher at the Department for Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at the Stockholm University’s Faculty of Humanities. 

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Post WWII and the use of Japanese Showa stamps in South Korea (part 2)

Following Part-1 of this article in the issue No. 169 of Kiku Shimbun, I have acquired a new and important item for my Showa period collection during my recent visit to Tokyo and the JAPEX’2016 exhibition, this being a Postal Charges Receipt form illustrating the usage of overprinted stamps issued for use in South Korea by […]

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Download (KSS members only) “Philatelic handbook for Korea, 1884-1905” by Helen Zirkle

In 1970 the “Philatelic handbook for Korea, 1884-1905” was published by The Collectors Club in their series of handbooks as handbook number 23. Written/compiled by Helen Zirkle and others it was published in 1970 and was, at the time, one of the very few specialized books about Korean philatelic history. 

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War Validation Chops of North Korea

The end of the Korean War is already more than half a century in the past, and much of the philatelic activity engendered by that conflict has been extensively described and consolidated. A major aspect, however, has escaped attention until very recently. The Korean Stamp Catalogue, published by the Korean Stamp Corporation in Pyongyang, contains […]

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Usage of recently issued commemoratives?

Ever wondered whether all these commemoratives issued by postal services are really used postally? Of course you have, as a collector you simply can’t have missed all these (expensive!) series of commemoratives being offered from all over the world. Do places like Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Tuvalu or Vanuatu really need so many stamps? […]

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Revenue stamps used on cover (Kobay)

For philatelists interested in Korean philatelic items the best source of information is probably Kobay. Unfortunately Kobay is available in Korean only and ordering can due to the constraints effectively only be done by Korean nationals. However, seller “jsm654” recently listed several interesting covers which we would like to show to non-Korean speaking philatelists. 

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