Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Reader Evgeniy Savchenko commented about the article published on June 24, 2020 on the KSS website concerning the Chollima symbol often used on North Korean stamps. He noted that the USSR in 1960 issued a stamp commemorating the 15th anniversary of the liberation of Korea, Scott 2407. We now have a image of this stamp […]
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Korea Stamp Society’s (KSS) current Publisher/Webmaster, Ivo Spanjersberg, and I are working on issuing a special edition of the Korean Philately (KP). Originally we believed we would prepare a book or ”monogram” that would just cover Dr. Sherwood Hall’s Tuberculosis/Christmas and New Year’s seal program that occurred during the period of 1932-1940.
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The newly issued 2021 Scott catalog, Vol 4A , has a Korean stamp (Scott804/KPSC639; issued December 1, 1971) for the New Year of 1972 on the cover. The year 1972 was the Year of the (Water) Rat, and this stamp shows two rats flying a kite. However, in the Korean language the word for mouse […]
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We saw in the article posted on the Korea Stamp Society’s (KSS) website on January 23, 2020, that there had been the exciting find of two covers sent from Korea with the unissued 1940 TB/Christmas and New year seal. These were found in the USA by a member of the family of a Christian missionary […]
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Recently I joined the Christmas Seal & Charity Stamp Society, and as a result a fellow Aussie, Mr. Ivan Krell, who collects Christmas seals, contacted me to see if we could exchange any Christmas seals. He wasn’t aware of our Korea Stamp Society, so now he has access to some more detailed information about Korean […]
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One area of collecting of Korean philatelic material that is out of reach financially (and availability) are the proof and presentation sheets that South Korea issued in very limited numbers beginning with the 1946 set honouring the Liberation from the Japanese. These were never listed in Scott’s because they were not sold to the public […]
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I am pleased to announce that due to the sharp eyes of our former Chairman (and current Publisher) that a new consistent plate fault on the Korea 1934 Methodist Anniversary Seal can be announced. This seal was designed by Dr. Sherwood Hall. While there is no value number on the seal itself, it sold for […]
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To my great surprise, as I was scanning some philatelic material related to Korea’s awareness program to fight tuberculosis (TB) for an upcoming publication, I discovered a cover apparently sent by Dr. Chang-mo Moon in 1953. The cover has a 1953 Korea TB seal pasted on the back of the envelope, which would have been […]
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It is encouraging that we are receiving so much new information from members of the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) and readers of the KSS website. In particular, I have been amazed at all the new information we have been receiving about Dr. Hall and other missionaries in Korea prior to WWII. This article is an […]
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In the article I wrote on the Korean 1952 TB/Christmas seal, I briefly discussed Dr. Moon’s autobiography, “A Fly Stuck to the Tail of Chollima”. As noted in the article, the Chollima is a mythical winged horse originally from Chinese classic literature and is seen across East-Asian literature.
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On Ebay I noticed a seller was asking $2250 for a 1953 South Korean postal card (see Figures 1-2). I did not understand why it was so rare and want to put the question to the readers of the Korea Stamp Society website if anyone knows why it is so rare?
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In addition to the early editions souvenir books, different types of souvenir books were issued up until 1938 by the Japanese government and later by the South Korean government. Kerr has the only list of these souvenir books that is known in English and it goes through 1961. On Page 71-2 of his book, he […]
Continue Reading The Scott catalogue states that most of the high value Scott numbers 52-54 reprints, the 50 ch, 1 won, and 2 won, with thin, semi-transparent paper, perforation 12 ½, that are in collectors’ collections and on the market today, come from the early souvenir books. Scott values 52-4 at $400, $600, and $875, respectively; but […]
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This is the story of the rarest issued Korean tuberculosis (TB)/Christmas and New Year seal: the 1952 issue. One might believe that the rarest and most valuable Korean TB/Christmas and New Year seal is probably one of the series of seals that Dr. Sherwood Hall began to issue in 1932. However, discounting the unissued seal […]
Continue Reading By writing this article, this author is hoping that it will create interest and more information will be forthcoming from other readers of the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) website. The subject is known by different names. Very little literature has been published, at least in English, about, what Jim Kerr called, in his “Korean Kingdom […]
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Another Korean issue that confuses collectors and dealer alike is the 1948 issue that pictures the Cheomseongdae Observatory, (Hangul: 첨성대) in Gyeongju, South Korea. The tower is said to be the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia, and maybe in the world, according to Wikipedia. It was built during the reign of Queen Seondeock of Silla, […]
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There was recently an exciting find by a reader of the Korea Stamp Society’s (KSS) webpage. Mr. Edwin Burgoyne, who has been researching information on old covers that were part of his wife’s (Alison) missionary family’s collection, read the articles about Dr. Sherwood Hall’s TB/Christmas and New Year’s seals. He especially noticed the article about […]
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I was looking for Plum Blossom stamps on cover on eBay for an article that is being written for the American Philatelic Society’s magazine, when I noticed one of the blue 6 ch in a short set that did not look quite right. This 6 ch was light blue, and casually looking at the image, […]
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(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 […]
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(Reader’s question) I have a question for readers of the KSS website. Many, if not most, of the 1960’s souvenir sheets from South Korea have gum creases or folds that are especially prominent on the gum side of the sheets. With scans, you can see some of the folds on the face of the souvenir […]
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