Supporting Philatelists Since 1952
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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Mr. Horace Grant Underwood (July 19, 1859 – Oct. 12, 1916) was the first Presbyterian missionary for the Korean mission from the Presbyterian church U. S. A.. In Korea he is well known as just “Missionary Underwood”, and his Korean name is “Won Doo-Woo” (원 두우; 元 杜尤). Mr. Underwood was born July 19, 1859, […]
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(On the relationship Between Chosŏn and Russia) On October 8, 1895, Queen Myung-Sung was assassinated by the Japanese force. King Go-Jong, who was also confined at the palace Kyung-Bok, fearing for his life, wanted to escape. On November 28, 1895, the King’s first try to flee to the legation of the United States failed because […]
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Charles Aleveque (known in Korea as An Ryebaek, -晏禮百) made and distributed the first photographic postcards in Korea, published a French-Korean dictionary, and represented the Korean Government at the 1900 Paris Exposition. As a representative for a French trading company, he worked for trade between Korea and France, importing modern materials for the government of […]
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Recently when I was searching on the net for Japanese Occupation of Korea covers, I found a cover that was very interesting to me. I did a search for the sender’s name and discovered that this might be a cover with that contained a letter from New-Ilhan. His original name was Ilhyeong New.
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Following the opening of Korea’s ports to international commerce in the 1880s, the Government recognized the importance of developing modern methods of mining. On September 4, 1900, the ‘Governmental Mining School’ to promote industrial education was established. The officials of the school were to be the principal, a superintendent, four trainers, an assistant trainer, and […]
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The months of July and August 1950 were very difficult months for Seoul. The North had taken over the city very early on in the Korean War and the situation was, to put it mildly “hard”. Atrocities were being committed on a large scale and the ordinary life of the city had basically come to […]
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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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After the Second World War quite a few cities in Western democracies had a “Stalin Street”. At the time this was quite understandable: the Soviet Union had from 1941 been an important ally against Nazi Germany. However, these streets disappeared overnight when the Soviet army invaded Hungary in 1956. The Stalinlaan in Amsterdam for instance […]
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Several interesting items are shown in current auctions run by Soler y Llach and Gärtner. These items are a cover (Soler y Llach) and postcards (Gärtner) with stamps from the classical period of Korean philatelic history, in this case covers sent between 1897 and 1904.
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In Joseon (Korea) in the 33rd year (1896) of King Gojong‘s rule a French person, Emile Martel (1874-1949), established the French Language School in Seoul as a governmental institute in Jong-ro-gu, now known as Susong-dong (Korean: 수송동). Martel arrived in Korea in July 1894 at the age of only twenty years old. Subsequently this school […]
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Shown here are two cards, one sent by correspondent Richard Johnston, the other by correspondent Charles Grutzner, both to their own (postal) addres. Neither were actually handled handled by the US Army-Air Force Postal Service, which means they probably do not qualify as ‘private usage’ in this instance. (See this KP article for the background […]
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This cover illustrates the use of stamps overprinted for the Custodian Force, India (CFI). This was a deployment of Indian forces, including the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance unit (which had been in Korea from November 1950) to oversee the repatriation of POWs after the armistice. The CFI was in Korea from late September 1953 until […]
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Once again, as John E. Strout’s article from KP Vol. XIII No. 2 (May 1964) demonstrates, we have ample evidence that the philately of Korea is full of pleasant surprises. Insofar as this writer has been able to determine the variety which he describes has never before been brought to the light of day in […]
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On Kobay, the Korean version of Ebay, mission history-related philatelic items are often available. Here is one of many of these items – a postcard sent within Great Britain from Grimsby to Skidbrooke on 19 February 1913. Both of these places are coastal towns in north east Lincolnshire. Grimsby is a major fishing port, whereas […]
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I had the unique opportunity to review prior to its publication the article by Dr. Joel Lee. It is not only a beautiful cover. This Empire Korea cover is a striking example of the postal history of Korea and it is a cover of extreme importance. To the casual observer, not familiar with Empire Korea […]
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Some of the rarest examples of postal history of Empire Korea, combining the images of early 20th century Korea on hand-tinted postal cards and a cover demonstrating all the stamps available at the Chemulpo, Korea post office on a single day are that of a correspondence addressed to Mrs. Charlotte K. Ober, University of Washington, […]
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Recently, in going over my Korean inflationary issues and presentation sheets, I was struck by a cancellation that is almost too perfect for a routine postal strike: neat, clean, sharp and almost printed-looking. Reviewing KOREAN PHILATELY, I found I am not alone in my suspicion – but its status is still indeterminate.
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The Gab-sin coup d’etat (甲申政變; 갑신정변) of 4 December 1884 (Lunar calendar 10. 17.), attempted by the reformers at the opening ceremony of the post office, failed. All main figures were killed including Mr. Young-Sik Hong whose constant efforts had led to the issuing of a Royal decree to establish the Department of Post Office […]
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Because of the extreme emphasis of Koreans on education there are, even today in times of digital communications, a lot of stationery shops in Korea. These shops sell hundreds and sometimes even thousands of different products, one of them being whole series of sticker stamps. These stickers look like stamps because of their “perforation” and […]
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