It’s intriguing to see Aldrich’s Auction 114 featuring a block of South Korea 94b, especially with Scott now listing new die varieties for this issue. The addition of 94b, 94c, and 94d raises questions about the source of this information and its accuracy in cataloging such distinctions.
I noticed in Aldrich’s current auction 114, December 5-7. they are offering a block of South Korea 94b which they are describing as: “(94b) 14wn Deep Blue, Large Die Cut 1 (20×24), Block of Four, Dist. OG, H, deep dark color, Fine-Very Fine example of this rare variety especially in a multiple, Scott $ 1,400 “. I wasn’t aware that Scott had added 94b,94c and 94d. At the bottom of 94 Scott writes: “Two die sizes were used in printing No.94: a small die, 19 3/4 mm, and a large die, 20×24 mm. Small dies were used on Nos. 94 and 94c“. The offered this same block in their auction 112 which closed this past April 18 at $400. Maybe no one really bid on it? Does anyone have more information on these different dies? I wonder who sent in the information to Scott to list these different dies?
Please wait with patience.
I am searching now.
Thanks much Jin Hur, I was hoping you would be the one to find out this information. Bob
The person who reflected that in Scott’s catalogue is Kim Han-ki of Korea.
Collectors in Korea don’t seem to be acknowledging that yet.
There should be a clearer and easier distinction, but it is regrettable that personal findings have been reflected in the global catalogue.
Mr. kim is a great collector, but he seems to make a claim that has been hard to widely acknowledge before.
I am personally sorry that Scott reflected that claim as there was no objective evidence [ like inscription block ] that the print edition was different, other than that there was a difference in size in micrometers.
Thank you very much Jeongyeon Lee for this information. I imagine many Korean collectors would have this feeling about how Scott listed it. Between your and Jin Hur’s comments, I learned a lot about his issue. This is while the KSS and KPF are so valuable to people seriously interested in Korean philately. Bob
I have my own philatelic website on internet, named “Philthema”. One collector, named Mr. Han-Ghi KIM, uploaded a research article about the small and large dies’ existence on 27th July, 2024. He quoted Mr. Woo-Shik YU’s study on it and commented that he identified the clear differences between them according to the IMAGE SOLUTION PROGRAM, PIC MAN.
Mr. Woo-Shik YU lives in Dublin, California in USA and seems to be the owner of one company, named WAFERMASTERS INC.
Mr. Han-Ghi KIM measured each stamp’s horizontal size and found out by indirect way that there were two kind of dies. The large one is 20mm and the small one is 19.87mm. This is interesting analysis, but the specialized catalogue edited by me did not reflect those arguments, because we lacked a wide recognition nationwide as well as worldwide. I guess that Scott might have accepted Mr. YU’s opinion on these varieties. However, I have never heard from any sources that Scott did it on purpose thanks to that man’s help or recommendations
Excellent information, Jin Hur. Someone must have submitted Mr. Yu’s opinion. I believe this is unusual for Scott to put in a listing of this kind of minor varieties, so they must have submitted a lot of data/examples of these. I will start looking at my copies and see if I can find these varieties. Bob
According to the speculations by Han-Ghi KIM, the former private printer “Chosun Literature Printing Company” created two kinds of dies, large & small and later on handed over the small die to the “Koryeo Munwha Sa”. However, there are no documents which could prove this speculation. But he guessed that these two private printers did the job of printing 14won dark blue stamp, as the former issue of light blue were scarce in circulation. My doubt is why and how “Chosun Literature Printing Company” used both of large and small dies at that time out of what kinds of definite reasons. Mr. KIM argued that there were two kinds of dies, because there are two different sizes identified in measurement of each stamp. I have tried to think on the possible transfer problem occurring in the process of printing stage from die to the plate. I mean that dies might be the same(if they had more than one die), but there might have been some expansion or shrinkage problem of the plate themselves in the middle of transition process . But I have no proof on it, just speculation. What do you think on all these kinds of speculation, argument and manifesto?
Hi Jin Hur, I don’t know about other KSS members, but I am fascinated about, and love these discussions about issues like the “94b” and the listing policies of catalogs, like Scott. As I mentioned before, this gives us such more information on Korean philately than we would ever have had before websites like the KSS. If real, I am still surprised that Scott listed these 94b varieties. For example, the varieties of the 1951 surcharge issues, Scott 174 – 181 are much more significant and listed by most or all of the catalogues in Korean, like the Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC), but Scott does not list these differences. Bob
Yes, I agree. This is very much provocative happening, but I am enjoying this discussion. From time to time Mr. Han-Ghi KIM proposed too much microscopic arguments, although his speculation always could contribute to expanding our philatelic imagination. But Scott is something special. Scott should have contacted the Korean Philatelic Federation with which a special team of inspection works on those kinds of varieties, before they decided to record them and give sub-numbers.
Mr. Finder, let’s summarize like below. Today I summoned a urgent meeting among Korean philatelists to touch on this topic.
The final answer is NO. It means that we cannot accept the decision of Scott to list these varieties as newly discovered ones. The difference between large and small dies is just 0.13mm(20.00-19.87=0.13). If we are supposed to approve the varieties as genuine ones philatelically acceptable based on such a tiny difference of 0.13mm, we have to include hundreds of thousands kinds of stamps onto the current stamp catalogues in every country. As I mentioned, dies and plates are inclined to be slightly deformed by heat, pressure and each metal’s unique characteristics. As we checked other Korean stamps issued during the similar era, the stamps with 1-2mm length difference are regarded as the same kind, because the printing quality of the machines of those days were so poor that stamps out of the same dies and plates could be measured as different each other or one another. And dies and plates made in summer and winter could be considerably different each other. Like my previous speculation, the dies and plates might be influenced by lots of foreign circumstances. Therefore we have to reluctantly accept the natural phenomenon that any kind of expansion or shrinkage
of dies and plates could definitely affect the printing process as a whole and even outer size of the issued stamps.
Thanks Jin Hur, I believe we (KSS) should approach Scott about this issue. I will discuss with Ivo and Tony Bard. It was great to get all this information. Bob
Kim Han-ki’s argument seems to have begun when he discovered a different type of corner mark (“Koryeo Munwha Sa” Type Mark) for the Yi-Jun 4-Won stamp, which is believed to have been printed only in “Chosun Literature Printing Company”
I didn’t see the real thing, but I also saw blocks on the internet with different shapes of corner mark.
The corner mark for Chosun Literature Printing Company was “L” shape, but the newly discovered one for the Yi-Jun 4-Won stamp was the Hangul “ㄱ” shape.
Hangul “ㄱ” shape corner mark is Koryeo Munwha Sa Type corner Mark.
Therefore, it is possible to estimate that the correlation between stamps and printing shops known so far may be different.
Kim Han-ki’s estimate, deduced from these findings, would not be complete nonsense.
His easier explanation of other phenomena in explaining the large die & small die, such as font size, font type, brightness and pattern, will be needed, and it is regrettable that his claims, which are easier and clearer, do not appear through association journals such as “ WOO-PYO”.
I’m a novice in stamp collecting and don’t know the executives of the association because I’m young, but it’s a pity that senior citizens like Kim Han-ki deserve to be contacted.
He has written several related claims in the website on internet “WOO-SU-DONG”, which can be said to be the Internet cafe of the Korea Post Association, but the reality of this debate on overseas sites is interesting without objection or discussion about it.
Dear 정연, do you happen to have links to Kim Hanki’s article(s)? Would love to see what he wrote. Korean is not a problem, and if applicable, we could always create a proper translation/summary of his argument(s) and see what others think.
My explanation is a summary of what I’ve watched for a long time because Kim Han-ki’s argument is interesting, and links to helpful content are likely to take a considerable amount of time.
The problem with Kim Han-ki’s writing is that it is difficult for even Korean speakers to understand the content unless it is an area of interest. I need a more intuitive and easy explanation, but there is no logical development in his writing, so I think it took a lot of time for me to understand his argument process in my own way.
Today is the weekend in Korea and I have to work from tomorrow, so it will take a considerable amount of time. Please wait and I’ll link it to you someday.
Ivo, I will get you later.
Dear Ivo, Mr. Kim has written several articles on the Internet, and most of them are duplicated on each site, so I’m informing you of his personal blog. I hope it will help you. There has been no active debate among the Korean Philiatelist. As you know, stamp collection is much less popular than before.
The first link is the content of the image that Mr. Kim says he sent to Scott.
https://blog.naver.com/hanki546/223081304900
The second link is what Mr. Kim wrote after the controversy on the Internet cafe.
https://blog.naver.com/hanki546/223106428111
The third link is what I guess led him to first establish this hypothesis, which is to discover a different corner mark than before.
https://blog.naver.com/hanki546/223521227959
Take a look at Leaf 17 and Leaf 60 in this link.
I’ve never met Kim Han-ki, but I’m sure he’s a senior Philiatelist with amazing observation skills. But I think he’s so obsessed with microscopic things that he sometimes makes some illogical claims. Nevertheless, I think his passion in collecting stamps and his excellent discovery ability are admirable.
Interestingly Kim Hanki was a member of the KSS until at least 1998. He is in the membership list for that year, but I also found him in earlier lists.
With regards to the third link in 이정연’s links, the images 17 and 60 are these 2 images:
Image 17:
Image 60:
To make it even more easily visible, I have enlarged the relevant part of the sheets shown. It is the red lines in the corner pointed out by the blue arrows:
Ivo, my email today is included in 이 정연”s uploaded information. Mine is just one of three articles. Mr. Han-Ghi KIM is over 70 years old. But well-known Korean collectors hardly contacted him. I don’t know why. One of my best friends who passed away last March also communicated with him in the past several times. My friend told me that his study was not a nonsense, but it was not easy to accept his argument unless we did attempt through-going inspection.
Some more interesting text was written by Kim Hanki with regards to the Scott catalogue listing. This is a quick translation from part of the article at https://blog.naver.com/hanki546/223081304900:
“Sending only image materials to the Scott catalog does not mean they are immediately reviewed and listed. What is more important is whether the material can be trusted. First, it is necessary to verify if this person is reliable in the field of philately. Gaining trust in the philatelic field is not an easy task. There is a certificate given to members of the American Philatelic Society (APS) who have been members for over 25 years. That certificate was also sent by email.
There is a fundamental difference between the printing plates of the 14 won Cheomseongdae by the Joseon Books Printing Company and those by Goryeo Munhwasa. The Joseon Books Printing Company’s printing plate is labeled as “Large Die” in English, while the Goryeo Munhwasa printing plate is labeled as “Small Die.”
94 A50 14wn deep blue, I refers to the blue Small Die Type I, which is printed by Goryeo Munhwasa.
94a. light blue, I refers to the light blue Large Die Type I, which is printed by the Joseon Books Printing Company.
94b. dp bl, large die, I refers to the blue Large Die Type I, which is printed by the Joseon Books Printing Company.
94c. Type II was listed as a single version without distinguishing between the printing plates of the Joseon Books Printing Company and Goryeo Munhwasa, as it is believed that very few remain.
94d. As a, Type II refers to the light blue Type II as it is.
Characteristics of Type II:
1. The outer line of the stamp’s design border is very thin.
2. The “ㅇ” and “ㅜ” in the Korean word “우” of the phrase “대한민국우표” (Republic of Korea Stamp) touch each other, and the spacing varies.
3. The internal space of the “A” in the English word “KOREA” is almost nonexistent.
4. The characters of the denomination in both Korean and English are small.
5. The crosshatched section on the right side of Cheomseongdae is removed, making Cheomseongdae appear very bright.
6. The text for the Korean and English names is slightly larger, and the stars are also slightly larger.
[Source] A Comparison of the 14 Won Cheomseongdae Blue Printing Plates by Joseon Books Printing Company and Goryeo Munhwasa | Author: Youngran Flower”