Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
Occasionally South Korean stamps show up on popular (stamp) auction websites with a 10 won overprint on them. But are these overprints real? According to John Sauer in his Monograph 1, Specialized Postal Stationery Catalog of the Republic of Korea, page 7, postal card KPC #PC15 was created with a 10 won surcharge on the […]
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Forgeries have always been a major problem for philatelists. This is perhaps even more true for early Korean materials: the simple fact that early Korean stamps weren’t much collected before the First World War made it quite easy for stamp forgers, especially from Japan, to create forgeries which could fool collectors. Even though often very […]
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Most stamp dealers have a specialization, some field of (philatelic) interest which make them stand apart from other dealers. But there are few stamp dealers like Willem van der Bijl, whose small shop in the historic city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands belies the importance of his collection of North Korean materials, both philatelic […]
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Most stamp dealers have a specialization, some field of (philatelic) interest which make them stand apart from other dealers. But there are few stamp dealers like Willem van der Bijl, whose small shop in the historic city center of Utrecht in the Netherlands belies the importance of his collection of North Korean materials, both philatelic […]
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(Editor) Willem van der Bijl is one of the world’s foremost dealers of North Korean philatelic materials. In his collection are many unique items, which, until he managed to acquire them, were unknown to the philatelic world. However, given the unique economic situation in North Korea he also managed to accidentally create a completely new […]
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The second stamp in the Taegeuk series is the 10 poon. The stamp is designated Scott #7 deep blue (both printings), KPSC #4 (1st printing; #4a 2nd printing and Minkus #4. Black and white images and data are from Brady-Tyler, Zirkel, G. La Francesca and colour images and data are from MikeG Canada (Stampboards), Florian […]
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(Editor: a recent question by Chen Yi-Fu led to quite a few answers being given in the comments section. The original article/question can be found here.) This small article is trying to answer some comments about the authenticity of KSC #5 (Sc #11) Secondary anniversary of the labour law.
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Is this card and the cancellations on it real or fake? I’m not sure if I’m qualified enough to certify this card, but as a serious DPRK collector I think this card has a 95-99% possibility to be fake. In fact, in my personal opinion, this card is totally fake: the card itself is fake, […]
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The first stamp in this series is the 5 Poon. The stamp is designated Scott #6 and Minkus #3. Black and white images and data are from Brady-Tyler, Zirkel, G. La Francesca and colour images and data are from MikeG Canada (Stampboards), Florian Eichhorn, David Phillips, KSS and other sources.
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The fifth stamp in this series is the 100 Mon. As with the 25 and 50 Mon stamps, this rose, white and blue stamp was never issued and therefore any stamp claiming to be postally used has a fake cancellation. The stamp is designated Scott #5 and Minkus #N5. The stamps were produced in 1884. […]
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In KP Vol. XXXIX No. 4 (November 1993) Don Vorhis, KSS president at the time, wrote the following: “From a recent sale abroad, 3 Japanese Kiku, one Tazawa, 5 revenues with “CORREE” stamped on them. All are used, so the creator had to work to avoid the cancels. One example shown here.” That was in […]
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The fourth stamp in this series is the 50 Mon. As with the 25 Mon stamp, this green stamp was never issued and therefore any stamp claiming to be used has a fake cancellation. The stamp is designated Scott #4 and Minkus #N4. The stamps were produced in 1884. Black and white images are from […]
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In the summer of 1964 I received the following letter from a French gentleman: “Enclosed is $3000.00 plus in Korea No. l’s and 2’s in singles, pairs and combinations. All stamps are tied on piece and with the exception of one or two stamps the condition is very fine or superb. As I do not […]
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Another Korean issue that confuses collectors and dealer alike is the 1948 issue that pictures the Cheomseongdae Observatory, (Hangul: 첨성대) in Gyeongju, South Korea. The tower is said to be the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia, and maybe in the world, according to Wikipedia. It was built during the reign of Queen Seondeock of Silla, […]
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Normally mint stamps are worth more than used stamps. One notable exception to this philatelic rule is the often faked cancellations of Korea’s first two stamps issued in 1884, the 5 and 10 mun values. As these two stamps were used for just a few days because of a riot/revolution that burned down the Korean […]
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The third stamp in this series is the 25 Mon. This orange stamp was never issued and therefore any stamp claiming to be used has a fake cancellation. The stamp is designated Scott #3 and Minkus #N3. Black and white images are from Brady-Tyler and colour images are from MikeG Canada (Stampboards) and other sources.
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In the D.C. Chapter Notes for February, 1979 a question was raised about copies of the first Korean stamps used on invoices. I had an opportunity to examine one of these (actually a bill of lading). I concluded that it was a modern concoction for extracting money from collectors. If it can be reproduced, a […]
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The second stamp in the series comparing genuine stamps to forgeries is the 10 Mon issued in 1884 – Stanley Gibbons #2; Scott #2; Minkus #2. Again, I am using the Brady-Tyler Handbook and stamp images and references shown on Pages 7 and 8. Colour images are primarily from MikeG, Canada – Stampboards.com. As with […]
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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 […]
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With the assistance of KSS members and referring to the “Brady-Tyler Handbook of Philatelic Forgeries Korean Empire 1962”, I will post, on a regular basis, examples of Korean Empire genuine stamps and forgeries of those stamps, along with images of the key elements for easy comparison.
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