Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Korean Philately is the magazine of the KSS.
The KSS has published a new edition of the KSS magazine, Korean Philately, the first KP for 2023. As a member you can download this edition of Korean Philately for free as a PDF. And again, just as is the case with all issues for 2020, 2021 and 2022, you can own a full-colour magazine-style […]
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During a 2022 stamp auction a cover showed up with a strange seal on the back of it. The cover was posted in North Korea in 1955, sent to what was at the time Czechoslovakia. The sender was probably a member of the NNSC or “Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission”, the committee which was supposed to […]
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I became interested in South Korean stamps in the 1960’s. I especially liked the cute small sheets that came with most of their stamps. I really liked the prices as most of the stamps cost 9-10 cents each and the sheets were 12-15 cents each. As my interest grew I wanted to get the earlier […]
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From the first printed stamps in South Korea in 1946 after the WWII, up to around 1953, many of those issues can be found printed as imperforated stamps, double printed stamps and stamps printed on both sides. The stamps were issued by the US Military from 1946-1948. On August 15, 1948, the South Korean government […]
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Dr. Sharrocks, one of our mission doctors had brought word from the exiled Syngman Rhee to the Koreans seeking independence advising that “It is imperative that if Korea is to attain independence, the will of the people against the Japanese domination be made known to the outer world”.
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Welcome to the latest edition of Korean Philately. This is a welcome return after many months impacted by the fallout from Covid and internal reorganization. All of that is now behind us and I am delighted to take over as Editor of KP. I am confident that we will resume our normal output of four […]
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The KSS has published a new edition of the KSS magazine, Korean Philately, the second KP for 2022. As a member you can download this edition of Korean Philately for free as a PDF. And again, just as was the case with all four issues for 2020 and 2021 and the previous issue of 2022, […]
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I started collecting the Postal Stationery of the DPRK as I had one or two clients who were buying North Korean postal history which was all but unobtainable in Western Europe in the 1980’s. After leaving Stanley Gibbons in 1992 to start ‘Carmichael & Todd’, I joined the KSC. I attended, with a stand, the […]
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The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) issued its first set of stamps on September 19, 1948 commemorating the establishment of the DPRK on September 9, 1948, Scott 14-15. The Scott numbers for North Korea 1 -13 are for used for the Soviet occupation era. Since those stamps were issued, North Korea has issued stamps […]
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Some of the types of souvenir sheets of North Korea issued in 1976 are confusing to me when trying to identify them. There may have already been articles on this topic that I have not seen, but I hope that some of our Korea Stamp Society members can answer some of my questions. One example […]
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I have been collecting stamps from North Korea for about 30 years and I can say that the philately of this country has many secrets and mysteries. The main catalogs (Scott, Michel, and Stanley Gibbons (SG)) do not provide complete and reliable information. The catalog printed in the DPRK gives distorted price information. Yes, this […]
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One of our newest Korea Stamp Society members asked the Korea Stamp Society for information on how to tell the differences between South and North Korean stamps. As most of our articles on the KSS website are on specialized topics about Korean philately, we thought it would be good to write an article about identifying […]
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It seems like only yesterday when I first learned of the Society. As I began collecting, two older established dealers suggested I focus on collecting stamps of the group of countries often identified as “U.S. Possessions”. Bright and colourful, the cost of many of them in that era was perfect for a beginning but enthusiastic […]
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The KSS has published a new edition of the KSS magazine, Korean Philately, the first KP for 2022. As a member you can download this edition of Korean Philately for free as a PDF. And again, just as was the case with all four issues for 2020 and 2021, you can own a full-colour magazine-style […]
Continue Reading
I have been asked to share my journey to becoming Editor Emeritus of Korean Philately, and I’m happy to do so. I became a stamp collector at age 8 when living in London, Ontario, Canada. My cubmaster was a stamp collector and thought that I should become one, as well. He had a stamp album […]
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The first set of the five part Korean Fables series which will eventually comprize twenty different stamps and twenty souvenir sheets made its appearance on Sept. 1, 1969 with four stamps depicting scenes of “Kongjwi and Patjwi” a sort of Korean Cinderella legend.
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I was bitten by the stamp “bug” at an early age watching my father work on his U.S. stamp collection. After sufficient pestering, I was given a small starter album, a large packet of U.S. and foreign stamps, hinges and a tongs; I was promised more based on continued interest. I was about six years […]
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Recently there was a very unusual amount of bidding on group of Korean Empire stamps on eBay that had around nine different bidders with the winning bid at $1200. This set of stamps was brought to the attention of the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) by a reader of the website with three days left in […]
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Sometime in 2021 Willem van der Bijl sent us these photos. Do you recognize these and know anything in particular about them? Such as period of usage etc. And do you perhaps own such items as well? I would love to see the TP labels you’ve got. Are they the same or are there more […]
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A KSS member asks about North Korean revenue stamps: what do we know about these? “A small number of stamps, many duplicates. I do not specifically collect such stamps, but sometimes buy them. Are these stamps all North Korean? I read that there is a catalog of Korean (or North Korean) revenue stamps, but I […]
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