Addendum to the 1960 Korea Mr. La’s Children’s Savings Stamp Design

(Including the mystery of which 1 won Bee design is the rarest one?) It is important to note that Mr. La’s design for the Children’s Savings stamp issue was used again from 1962-4. This is another series of the stamps that can be confusing to collectors because of the type of different paper used in the several printings. And as we will see, one of the 1 won Bee stamp’s value is confusing to this writer too!

The original two 1960 issues were in the Hwan units, 10 and 20. Between 1962-4 the Children’s Savings stamps were issued with the new denominations of 1 won and 2 won and they were printed on three types of paper, which can make it very confusing to Korean stamp collectors. It is important to know the differences between these printings because one of the 1 won stamps is rare and worth around $100, I am just not 100% certain which is the rare stamp.

Postscriptum: 'unusual' gum?

I had bought a set of 377a-78a. I never thought anything about it. But this morning, as I was identifying it, I noticed the seller had written “unusual gum” on the little glassine envelope it was in. When I looked closer, I noticed it had specimen (or “sample stamp”) markings on the front, one in blue and the other in red.  On the reverse, there is hardly any gum, looks very flat. Does anybody know more about the gum on this series?