A KSS Member’s Trip to the Heohyeon Underground Shopping Center Stamp Dealers’ Area

A career choice brought me and my Korean stamp collection that I started 30 years ago, back to the ROK. Korea certainly has changed in numerous positive and interesting ways but much like the US, the pastime of stamp collecting seems to have lost some of its appeal to technology.

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Changes in Korea Stamp Society Membership Enrolment for 2023

The Korea Stamp Society’s (KSS) Board, after wide-ranging discussions with the membership, have decided to implement new guidelines for KSS membership starting on January 1, 2023. We have grown over the past four years from less than 40 members to over 400. During this period, we have not charged for KSS membership. The Board believes […]

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Stamp issues for 2023 already proposed (but you could still stop them)

Depending on the laws of a specific land which stamps to publish is decided upon in all sorts of ways. In some countries the government (usually through a ministry) decides what which stamps to issue, in other countries it is the postal authority or the postal services themselves. In Germany for instance the Ministry of […]

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Book with Korean philatelic references “Buddhism on stamps” published

In early January 2021 the book “Buddhism on Stamps” was released by the Indian philatelist Mr. Lokeswara Rao (retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in Nagaland, India). He spared no efforts in creating his book, as not only does the book come with an introduction by the current Chief Postmaster General, the book also contains […]

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Interesting Korea related items in Corinphila and Vance auctions

Philatelic items directly related to Korea are relatively rare in (international) auctions. Of course, there are these “collections” with albums packed with North Korean stamps from the 1970s and 1980s or the usual South Korean flag sheets and such, but occasionally interesting items do show up. Here are a few examples from two different auction […]

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The Korea Stamp Society’s Seal of Approval

Throughout the history seals have adorned letters and manuscripts. Whether wax or paper, this simple practical device has been utilised as a messenger in its own right, demonstrating power and status, highlighting a worthy cause or sending a seasonal greeting (see the famous TB Christmas seals). The seal and its cinderella cousin have a justified […]

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Classic Korea stamps and covers with Holcombe certificates (Rapp auction)

We are always on the look out for interesting Korean philatelic materials showing up in auctions. One noticeable item showing up in a Rapp auction (“Rapp Auktion Nr. 39 und Nr. 40 von 23. bis 28. November 2020“) is item nr. 2826. This item is listed in both German and English. The Korean items shown […]

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APS Stamp Chat with KSS’s Professor James Grayson ‘North and South Korea: The First Issues after the Second World War’

Professor James H. Grayson, a member of the KSS since 2000, was invited to speak on the American Philatelic Society’s ‘Stamp Chat’ internet discussion group.  His subject was ‘North and South Korea: The first issues after the Second World’.  He uses a semiotic approach to understanding the designs of stamps to discover the meanings which […]

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Korean Philatelic Center – Standing Order Accounts

In 1984 I established a standing order account with the Korean Philatelic Center (KPC) for all new commemorative and definitive stamp issues including souvenir sheets. This account was initiated by writing a personal check in $US to the KPC with a payee as instructed. I am not fluent in Korean so the process used was […]

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Korean Stamp Museum virtual tour makes visiting possible

Because of the corona virus doing the rounds the Korean Stamp Museum is, like so many other such institutes, closed at the moment. However, just a few days ago KoreaPost issued a link on its website to a complete virtual tour of the Korean Stamp Museum. When clicked one starts just outside the museum, underground, […]

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KoreaPost creates corona virus awareness campaign

The current crisis with the corona virus has created the need for the Korean government to make as many Koreans as possible aware of the risk. Currently a series of campaigns raising awareness of how to avoid getting sick is on-going. KoreaPost has joined in by creating this cartoon, a “webtoon”, reminding people to help […]

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KPC3427-3434: Promotional materials for series

(News from 우정사업본부 / KoreaPost) KoreaPost has released promotional materials for the recent stamp issue titled “Science and Technology that Lead Korea” (KPC3427-3434). These materials were published on both the KoreaPost Facebook page as well as the Kstamp blog. The materials are available in Korean only.

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