Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
The images below form an excerpt from my exhibit titled “Circular Datestamps at Japanese Offices in Korea (1876-1945),” which will be presented at NAPEX 2023 in McLean, Virginia on June 2-4, 2023.
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Most collectors of South Korean stamps are familiar with the 1946 set of Japanese stamps overprinted for use in US-occupied South Korea and revalued in Korean currency, i.e. cheon. These are listed in the Korean Postage Stamp Catalogue (KPSC) as numbers R1-R6 and in Scott as numbers 55-60. They were issued some months after the […]
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In 1919 the Japanese introduced “Postage Fee Paid” forms. These forms were used to pay for various kinds of mail matter in bulk. The official Japanese postal term was 郵便料金受領証原符 = Postage fee reception original form and is imprinted on top. The actual mail items received a circular bisected handstamp in characters “(post office name)/postage […]
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(A recent listing of a postcard on Ebay led to a series of emails amongst active KSS members. James Grayson, who lived for several decades in Korea and knows a lot about the history of churches in Korea, created this text, together with Florian Eichhorn, in answer to the questions raised.) This post card forms […]
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When I was writing my earlier article on New Ilhan (see KP Vol. 57 No. 1), I didn’t even realize I had more envelopes from the New Ilhan company. When I did realize, I looked around for more envelopes from New Ilhan and discovered several other items. All these envelopes must have come from the […]
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Here is an envelope that looks like Dr. Hall’s examples but has no space for addresses. I thought it could be intended for monetary donations or possibly for condolence letters placed inside comfort bags. Does anyone know for sure?
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The three envelopes described below are small but important pieces of information about three key Presbyterian missionary families in Korea – the McCunes, the Hunts, and the Blairs. All of these families were involved in education, and became embroiled in the politics of colonial Korea under the Japanese. In particular, they and other missionaries were […]
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In 1919 the Japanese Posts introduced “Postage Fee Paid” forms. These forms were used to pay for various kinds of mail matter in bulk. The official Japanese postal term was 郵便料金受領証原符 = “Postage fee reception original form” and is imprinted on top. The actual mail items received a circular bisected handstamp in characters “(post office […]
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My question concerns a card that was issued by Chōsen Sotokufu Teishin Kyoku and features a picture of chickens with an inscription in Korean. It appears that the design could have been issued as a New Year greeting. The Teishin Kyoku issued a set of post cards on October 1, 1910 commemorating the opening of […]
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The use of Christmas Seals in Korea began with the work of the Methodist medical missionaries Dr. Sherwood Hall (Korean name Ha Rak 賀樂, 1893-1991) and his wife Dr. Marian Bottomley Hall (1896-1991) who were based in the city of Haeju (海州) in South Hwanghae Province (黃海道), now in North Korea.
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This is a collection of date stamps used in Japanese Offices in Korea from 1876 to 1888. During this period the first type of CDS, “double-circle date stamps”, was used at Busan (or “Fusan” in Japanese), Wonsan (or “Gensan”), and Incheon (or “Ninsen”). The Japanese-language version of this exhibit was shown at JAPEX 2019 and […]
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Since first seeing a South Korean revenue stamp in 2010 (when I needed one for a visa document while already in Korea) I have been collecting information about Korean revenue stamps. What is noticeable in my database of 6000+ notes on Korean revenue stamps that some stamps are very easy to collect “used on document” […]
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Recently I purchased on eBay, what is most likely a philatelic cover that was a curiosity to me. It was a cover addressed to a fairly famous US naval officer, Read Admiral Jeraud Wright, dated December 12, 1945. (See images of front and back cover) I was not aware that covers had been made with […]
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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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We are very fortunate, as it turns out, that one of our Board members, Florian Eichhorn, has previously done quite a bit of research on the postcard, showing a Japanese woman tossing Korean stamps into the air, that was briefly discussed on the KSS website. It was not an anti-Japanese propaganda item, as I had […]
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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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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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Recently I purchased a postcard showing a Japanese woman throwing images of the first Korean stamps into the air and it intrigued me what this postcard represented. Does any reader know the story behind this postcard? Is it a propaganda anti-Japanese postcard? Where there any other types of these postcards printed?
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This cover, franked with a Japanese 3-sen definitive (Scott 131) tied with a comb-style cancellation KEIJO/14.7.16 (July 16, Taisho 14 (1925))/6-9 p.m., was sent to Mr. TAKEDA Chobei and Co. in Osaka, Japan, from the Keijo (Seoul) Branch (”京城支店” in rear lower center) of FUJISAWA Tomokichi (“藤澤友吉”), a precursor store of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd. […]
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It is encouraging that we are receiving so much new information from members of the Korea Stamp Society (KSS) and readers of the KSS website. In particular, I have been amazed at all the new information we have been receiving about Dr. Hall and other missionaries in Korea prior to WWII. This article is an […]
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