Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
During the Korean War (1950-1953) and for at least a decade after the war South Korea (ROK) was counted amongst the poorest nations in the world. As late as the early 1960s the average Ethiopian or Ugandan was richer than the average South Korean. And yes, even the average North Korean was (probably) richer than […]
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Two post cards, part of a set commemorating the ROK 1955 Expo. These two post cards were made by the Huimangsa 希望社 · 製 for the industrial exhibition commemorating the tenth anniversary of liberation 解放十週年產業博覽會記念. This refers to August 15, 1945, commemorated in both the ROK and DPRK as the date Korea was liberated from […]
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The Korea Stamp Corporation, the stamp issuing organization of the DPRK (North Korea), generally creates stamp along several lines of themes. One of those common themes is something along the lines of “the eternal fight for the motherland against our enemies”. The thing is: the official feelings towards these enemies, whomever they may be (usually […]
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Preface: This series of articles derive from discussions among several KSS member collectors. Some of them are interested in collecting Korean (and Japanese) philatelic items but feel confused in distinguishing different surcharges of early Korean postal stationeries since they cannot read Hanja and Hangul. See here for part I about the usage of these cards […]
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Sometimes something comes up by accident which may be too good to be true. Or not, of course. One such item is this quite attractive card. It is a Japanese produced postal card of 5 sen which was used in South Korea as a card worth 5 jeon, uprated with another stamp for 5 jeon, […]
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Preface: This series of articles derive from discussions among several KSS member collectors. Some of them are interested in collecting Korean (and Japanese) philatelic items but feel confused in distinguishing different surcharges of early Korean postal stationeries since they cannot read Hanja and Hangul.
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Part of a series of 5 cards issued at 10 won each in 1978 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the (South) Korean state, this card (CPC4) shows an important development in South Korean society. During the 1960s and 1970s South Korea tried to develop its economy. No efforts were spared to create a stronger […]
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Abacus Auctions of Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia in its auctions for 30 November to 1 December, 2019 displayed three Korean postcards for sale, two of which are pictoral cards. The pictoral postcards are of a ‘yŏt’ (Korean confection) seller and a view of a city gate in Sŏul, possibly the Great North Gate. The text […]
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Every year since 1957, the Republic of Korea Post Office has issued New Year greeting cards, and since 1975 New Year envelopes, although these special envelopes have not been issued every year. In 1974, as a ‘one-off’, Korea Post issued a special New Year letter sheet. These New Year greetings stationery are issued for the […]
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As reported in Oo-Pyou, an error in denomination was made in the New Year’s Greeting postcard issued late last year, subsequently followed by the release of a corrected card. However, the Oo-Pyou article did not have information on the first day cancellation of these cards. As can be seen in Figure 1, the original was […]
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In 1997, I published privately in a limited edition of 150 copies the Catalogue of North Korean Postal Stationery 1947-1961. This has since been somewhat superseded by the DPRK publishing their own version of this catalogue, in the process of which they, let us say, inadvertently, stole much of my information, and, indeed, some of […]
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Before his death, Frank Allard was an ongoing source of interesting postcards reflecting Korean history. Here are the remaining items provided by Frank. I hope you enjoy them. Frank was not always clear about what fronts and backs go together; we hope we have them matched correctly!
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(Originally from KP double number November 2012 / February 2013, Vol. 54 Nr. 4 / Vol. 55 Nr. 1) The following item sold on e-Bay on July 25, 2009, for US $961. The 5 ch Liberation South Korea postal stationery card (Figure 1) was revalued and overprinted in mid-1950 by occupying North Korea forces with a […]
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In 2012 a series of postcards was sold in post offices all over Korea showing a Korean postman through the ages. The cards show five different periods, starting with Joseon Dynasty times. The next four cards show the last 100 years, up to 2012. Notice all the small details included in the cards.
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