In 1975 the Korean National Tuberculosis Association (KNTA) program again produced a design of a pair of Christmas/TB seals with only two different images. The two seals depict stylized ocean scenes with waves with a fish in one seal design and a bird in the other design. The seals were printed in sheets of 50 with 25 pairs. The Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) has listed that a postcard was also issued in 1975. Most experts believe that there was not a postcard produced for this series; and the author has not seen an image of one. If one of the readers knows more about this postcard, please send the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) this information that you have about this postcard.
The 2022 KPSC gives the numbers for the 1975 seals as KPSC TCS 99-100. The KPSC values the pair of seals at 2,400 won ($1.85). They list the postcard as KPSC TCS 100a and is valued at only 10,000 won ($7.75). Obviously, since the postcard is extremely rare, if it exists, this catalogue value is meaningless.
In 1975, the production by the KNTA of the seals fell drastically to only 2,300,000 seals, only 13% of the amount printed in 1974. This number was the lowest number of seals printed since the second Christmas/TB seal issued by the KNTA in 1954, when only 640,000 seals were printed. The author cannot find records of the number of seals sold in 1975. The price of a seal was still 10 won each or 20 won for the pair. The low amount of funds generated from seals sold 1975 must have significantly reduced the funds raised by the KNTA to fight TB in 1975. The 1975 seals were not sold in a booklet format.
The number of Christmas/TB seals produced, from a record high number in 1973 of 42 million, decreased rapidly, and as we will see in future articles, to only 1.1 million in 1976-1978 and 3 million in 1979, before starting to rebound in the 1980’s. Something must have happened within the KNTA’s organization in the mid-1970’s that resulted in the production and sales of the Christmas/ TB seals falling to very low numbers. The author is still researching the question of why did this happen with production of the seals falling to such low numbers. If any reader can help with knowledge about the Christmas/TB seals in the mid-1970, please give your information to the KSS.
The author has seen three different types of sheets of 50 seals of TCS 99-100, which are in his possession. They are probably not really different types of printings, but for purposes of the article they are called Types A-C.
