Review of the Latest Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) 2022-2023

Well, with the latest Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) for 2022-2023, it is “Back to the Future” or as the saying goes: “Old is New Again”. With the help of a fellow Korea Stamp Society (KSS) member living in Korea, Tony Michell, I was finally able to obtain a copy of the 2022-2023 edition of […]

Continue Reading

The types of “unissued” or otherwise irregular stamps of the DPRK

In early 2019 I wrote an article for the KSS about “unissued” DPRK stamps. This showed that, in addition to the regular issued stamps, there were (and are still) many “disappeared” or “re-appeared” stamps in DPRK’s philatelic history. This short refresher article gives a bit more information as to why these stamps were treated the […]

Continue Reading

How Stalin and Mao disappeared even from the Soviet map of Pyongyang

One thing leads to another, and before you know it, yet more information comes your way. We have seen this happening time and again in the Korea Stamp Society these last few years. In this particular case: when Willem van der Bijl showed us scans of his collection of DPRK stamp artworks (see KP Vol. […]

Continue Reading

Download (KSS members only): “Handbook of Philatelic Forgeries – Korean Empire”

One of the most challenging aspects of collecting Korean stamps is that there are many forgeries/counterfeits/fakes of both the stamps as well as the overprints and cancellations of the early “Empire” issues from 1884 to 1900. Very often, the stamps, overprints and the cancellations can all be forgeries. Fortunately, there are few or none known […]

Continue Reading

Korean Railroad Commemorative Ticket Traffic Card Catalogue

Question: what do railway tickets and stamps have in common? Answer: not much, unless they come in stationary made exclusively for the tickets. Which is what is shown, amongst all the tickets of course, in the “Korean Railroad Commemorative Ticket Traffic Card Catalogue”, published on March 26 2013. 

Continue Reading

Download (KSS Members Only): Korean Stamp Catalog (Luther Dilley, 1961)

One of the most detailed catalogs for Korean stamps (not including the Korean Empire), was published for the first time in September, 1959 by Commander L.L. Dilley , USN (Ret.). Commander Dilley, seen here in a photo from World War II, was in the Cryptanalysis Section of Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC) based in Hawaii, […]

Continue Reading

Do These Korean Stamps Really Exist? Time for a Quick Update.

Previously, in the forum, I had posted the comment/question highlighted below, about whether some of the Korean stamps I have been looking for to add to my collection, really exist. My research began in earnest when I began to help the KSS find the old missing Korean Philatelic (KP) magazines so that they can be […]

Continue Reading

Study of Meter Franking Stamps in Korea

The handbook and catalogue 한국우편요금계기인 or “Study of Meter Franking Stamps in Korea”  was published by the 부산우취회 / Busan Philatelic Club in 1996 on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the BPC. Besides approx. 40 pages of explanations and introductions the handbook contains numerous pictures of individual meter marks and accompanying slogans, spread out over 288 […]

Continue Reading

Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue 2015-2016

For the years 2015-2016 the Korean Philatelic Co. produced the regularly published Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue, the standard catalogue for Korean philately at the moment. The catalogue conforms to the usual setup: postal stamps in the first part of the catalogue, divided in commemorative stamps and regular stamps, and the specialties in the second half. 

Continue Reading

Korean Stamp Catalogue 1946-2006

(Korean Philately November 2006) The latest in a series of catalogues that goes back as far as 1958, the newest edition combines the stamp catalogue with the cata­logue of postal stationary—the only previous edition of which, Korea Postal Stationery & Maxicard Catalogue 1948-1998, came out in 1999. Apart from the maximum cards, which have been dropped […]

Continue Reading