Missionary mail Archives — Korea Stamp Society

Methodist mission address “IPO Box 1182” in Seoul

January 15, 2020September 15, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg67Leave a Comment

From the late 1800s a lot of Christian missionary activity took place in Korea. Given that these people usually were very well educated they inevitably wrote home. Many of these letters including the envelopes in which they were sent were saved by the recipients. In recent years with the passing of many of the post-World […]

1963 cover from important Methodist medical missionary educator

January 10, 2020December 23, 2019 James H. Grayson57Leave a Comment

This envelope is particularly interesting from a postal history point of view. The writer, Dr. Roberta G. Rice, was writing to Dr. Charles Mayo the head of the renowned Mayo Clinic, and his wife in a personal capacity. Dr. Rice was a member of the (American) Methodist Mission who had been appointed after the Korean […]

Australian missionary postal history shows early links with Korea

December 22, 2019November 30, 2019 James H. Grayson1311 Comment

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 […]

Postal card shows early 1960s Korean missionary history

December 11, 2019December 9, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor127Leave a Comment

On auction websites a lot of 1950s-1980s covers and postal cards show up with recognizable names on them. These items are not just Korean postal history, they show more than just that: they show Korean history. One example is the card shown in this article.

Fusan Customs cover Mrs. Appenzeller

December 5, 2019December 4, 2019 James H. Grayson1521 Comment

John Bull Stamp Auctions, Ltd. from Hong Kong has a cover in its “332nd Auction” (5 – 8 December 2019) which was sent in April 1891 from Mrs. Hunt in Fusan (Busan) to Mrs. Appenzeller in Seoul. The cover has a starting price of 1.000.000 HKD, which is approx. 127.500 US dollars or 115.000 EUR.

Military Post in Korea in 1952

November 17, 2019November 19, 2019 James H. Grayson2562 Comments

The other day Ivo Spanjersberg shared scans of the front and back of a letter envelope which was posted from Korea to the United States at the end of 1952. Ivo asked me why a non-military person could use military post? I didn’t have an answer to this and referred the question to my colleague […]