When new Souvenir Sheets come out, at the issuing post offices there is a line-up outside of the crowds of people who are trying to get them. At 8 .30 AM, a P. O. official will then come out and hand out slips of paper specially marked which allow the owner to then go in and buy just one souvenir sheet. If an individual collects a few slips from his friends he can go in and buy one sheet for each slip. Thus, the buyer has bought a sheet at 40 H or about 4 for the usual commemorative issues. The dealer who then is trying to get some stock in souvenir sheets has to buy singly from these different individuals. So for him to get stock in souvenir sheets he has to pay 80H to 100H apiece.
Now, if it seems like an issue is going to be a popular one, then the individuals may decide that they won’t let the sheet go to the dealer unless they get 200H to 400H or 20 to 404 each. This usually happens with the UN issues or those that many nations are commemorating together. Examples are the high prices on UNESCO, World Refugee, Olympics ’60 and UN 15th Anniversary. All these issues are not rarer in numbers than their contemporaries, they are just more popular and very speculative.
Now, of course, the question comes up, if the souvenir sheet sales for the interest of obtaining U. S. dollars is true, who is getting all the profits, KPC, some members of the postal department, or the Korean government?. If KPC gets all the profits, then the P. 0. Department is favoring this group tremendously. If by any chance the government gets the profits ( and this is denied by dealers in Korea), then it has done so by raising the price of the souvenir sheets over their face value and also putting Korean dealers and buyers to a marked disadvantage. What do you think?
Editor’s Note (2019): Unfortunately we had no images of 1961 hwan value souvenir sheets when recreating this article, but here are some from 1965 (from Maynard Redeker’s collection). This article was originally published in 1961 and is republished here to give an idea of what was happening at the time.
Hello, I am not sure if this is a good site to ask my question. I collect South Korean Stamp Sheet. I have some special areas that I also collect. I am trying so hard to get a sheet of Ex President Park Geun Hye stamp sheet. I know that after she got in trouble, her stamp was put from general issue. I really am trying to get just one sheet. I don’t want to say that money is no option, but I really like to have one for my collection. Does anyone have a copy or can tell me where I can get a sheet? I am a long time KSS member and love this web sit. Thank you.
Do you mean a full sheet of the 2013 Scott 2396? I am not aware of a souvenir sheet with president Park Geun Hye on it.
The 270 won stamp with Park Geun-hye on it comes in two types of sheets, a complete sheet of 2 x (2 x 4 ) makes 16 stamps, and a much smaller souvenir sheet with 2 stamps:
Larger sheet:
Souvenir sheet:
Of course, both must have been cut from print sheets (notice the print sheet composition mark on the large sheet in the right lower corner), so technically speaking there are even larger “sheets” but I doubt you can buy the uncut versions.
Here is the bad news: the larger sheet isn’t exactly cheap. I saw one listing on a Korean stamp dealer website for 85.000 won.
There is also another sheet available, which is essentially a “my own stamp” sheet format (see my explanation on these stamps) but officially used by KoreaPost:
Notice the very large “stamp” in the middle, effectively this is a large seal/cinderella.
To show it is official here are two publicity shots from 2013 showing all these sheets were for sale by KoreaPost:
There was even a much larger set, in a very large envelope style cover, with FDCs and all these sheets. But I couldn’t find a good photo of that one (and I guess the price would be even higher than for the one sheet!).
Hi Ivo. That’s interesting. I should have looked at my KPSC, the catalog for the single 2491 is 6,000 won, and the S/S as 2491a catalogs for only 15,000 won compared to that high price the dealer wanted for it of 85,000 won. I wonder why Scott doesn’t list it? I still wonder which “sheet” our reader is looking for? Robert
Thank you for the information. I am looking for the large sheet for my collection but the “my own stamps” would be nice to have with it. I am no sure how much 85,000 won is in us dollars? but I still may want to buy one. Do you know which dealer may have a sheet to sell? Again thank all for the information.