The Imperfs, Double Printings and Two-Sided Printings of Korea 1946-1953 Stamps

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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Imagine my surprise when the DPRK also printed a postal stationery catalogue!

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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Are the Designs of North Korea’s (DPRK) Stamps commemorating the creation of the DPRK Flag and National Emblem based On a Painting?

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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DPRK Philately has many secrets and mysteries

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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Simple ways to identify stamps from Chosun Dynasty, North Korea and South Korea

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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The Korea Stamp Society at 70 years old – a look back and forward

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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What do we know about these North Korean revenue stamps?

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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