Q-and-A Archives — Korea Stamp Society

Reader’s Question: History of Travelling Post Offices in Korea?

February 12, 2020September 22, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg59Leave a Comment

Does anybody know more about the history of Travelling Post Offices (우편열차) in Korea? What I have found so far comes from two pictures showing two boards from the Stamp Museum in Cheonan (not Seoul) from an exhibit on TPO’s in Korea. This board lists for instance that the first mail transported by train […]

Reader’s Question: American Banknote Co Package #4137 dated Nov 3 1944

January 12, 2020January 11, 2020 Thomas Richards1397 Comments

(Reader’s question) Thought this item of collateral material might be of interest – “American Banknote Co Package #4137 dated Nov 3 1944”. It appears to have contained 100 sheets. The note that came with it said “Korea Occupied Nations Stamp”. Can anyone provide additional info?

Reader’s Question: Marks on reverse on 6 cheon Plum Blossom stamp?

December 29, 2019December 20, 2019 Robert Finder2763 Comments

I was looking for Plum Blossom stamps on cover on eBay for an article that is being written for the American Philatelic Society’s magazine, when I noticed one of the blue 6 ch in a short set that did not look quite right. This 6 ch was light blue, and casually looking at the image, […]

Reader’s Question: Who created these reference pages?

December 14, 2019November 20, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor193Leave a Comment

(Reader’s question) In a recent Ebay sale a set of pages was sold which are contain quite a lot of work done by someone in the past. These pages, 18 in total, show remarkably detailed research in sometimes very tiny differences within the same stamp series.

Why are these 1987 DPRK stamps so expensive?

December 10, 2019December 9, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor2679 Comments

This set of four stamps, listed in the “Korean Stamp Catalogue” (the North Korean catalogue), sometimes shows up on English (Ebay, Delcampe) and Korean (Kobay, Narauction) language auction websites. What is noticeable about this small set is how the set is listed for relatively high prices.

Reader’s question: Gum Creases in 1960’s Souvenir Sheets?

October 30, 2019July 4, 2019 Robert Finder2384 Comments

(Reader’s question) I have a question for readers of the KSS website. Many, if not most, of the 1960’s souvenir sheets from South Korea have gum creases or folds that are especially prominent on the gum side of the sheets. With scans, you can see some of the folds on the face of the souvenir […]

Cut outs or die proofs or…? What are these items?

October 17, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor2998 Comments

The items shown here are “cut outs” according to Spink Auction. In their Spink China auction of May 2017 these five items were listed by Spink as “1884 First issue, set of five, colour die proof in white thick paper, toned spots.” They were sold for HK$20.000 (approx. 2300 EUR or 2550 USD).

Chinese “Non Postal Value Souvenir Sheet” for Philakorea 1994

October 14, 2019January 26, 2020 Ivo Spanjersberg2591 Comment

Many different types of philatelic products have been created over the years by many different organizations and individuals. In China the so-called “Non Postal Value Souvenir Sheets” are one specific example of a type of such a product. They were (and are?) created on a very large scale, but they are relatively unknown outside of […]

UK Forces in Korea, BFPO 376 in Kure and a ship beginning with R?

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 James H. Grayson3421 Comment

A friend of mine in the Sheffield Philatelic Society, Ian Potter, has given me an envelope which he thought might of interest to me. It is attached below. The envelope, with no message inside, is clearly from someone who was associated with ‘UK Forces in Korea’ and is addressed to a ‘V D K Craddock’ […]

Are There Any Other Readers Specialized/Interested in Stamp Errors?

September 13, 2019September 12, 2019 Robert Finder350Leave a Comment

One area of the collecting of Korean stamps that fascinates me is the various errors of Korean stamps. I am wondering if there are many collectors of these Korean errors, and whether it would be useful to establish a discussion group for these errors on the KSS website, or should we just publish articles on […]

Rare 1945 Soviet overprints or fantasy stamps?

September 12, 2019September 14, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg6245 Comments

In the September 2019 KSS Newsletter I showed a stamp from an Ebay auction. The stamp itself was not remarkable: a very common Japanese 8 sen stamp from the first Showa series (Sakura 229, Scott 265, 1939) with an overprint showing a “Rose of Sharon”, the Korean empire/kingdom flower showed to these days on South […]

Opinion: Are some or all of the latest “North Korean” peace talk stamps and souvenir sheets fakes or legitimate?

August 20, 2019August 20, 2019 Robert Finder11048 Comments

As some readers of the KSS website know, I have not been interested in most North Korean (DPR) stamp issues. However, the peace talks between South Korea and North Korea, and the even more recent nuclear talks between North Korea and the USA, have caused some worldwide interest in philatelic material commemorating these talks. I […]

Reader’s Question: Information needed for biography about Lee Chang Sung

June 14, 2019June 19, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg13544 Comments

For a project about KSS members from the past I am currently looking for information about Lee Chang Sung. He was chairman of the Busan Philatelic Club for years, but was known outside of Korea for his many paquebot covers. He was first mentioned in Korean Philately in 1956(!), in the KP Vol. V No. […]

Reader’s Question: A Korean postal history atlas?

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019 Ivo Spanjersberg7375 Comments

(Reader’s question) Several of our members have a store on websites such as Ebay or Delcampe. It turns out one of our new members, Didier from France, is currently selling an atlas of China on Ebay. This atlas shows according to the title on one of the pages “postal establishments and postal routes in each […]

Reader’s Question: Imperforated Scott 429 / KSC 393

May 18, 2019May 14, 2019 YONG S YI8922 Comments

The picture below is the 1962 Scott #429 / KSC #393 imperforated 10 jeon “Launch of Soviet Manned Rockets Vostok 3&4”. The KSC does mention an imperforated version. However, the Scott catalog does not mention an imperforated version of this stamp. I wonder how many of our readers have seen or possess this stamp?

Reader’s Question: Pre-stamp mail between Korea and USA?

April 22, 2019April 21, 2019 Ravi R. Vora11286 Comments

(Reader’s question/Q&A) I am student and collector of Pre-stamp postal history between USA and Asia. While I have found fair bit of literature on Pre-1860 postal history between USA and China and Japan, I have not been able to find any such information on mail between Korea and USA. I understand US churches including Baptist […]

Reader’s Question: Too early day of issue of DPRK stamps?

April 20, 2019May 17, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor4601 Comment

(Reader’s question/Q&A) While browsing Ebay I recently ran into a listing which I first thought had read incorrectly. It was the “The 80th Anniversary of the Victorious Battles in the Musan Area” set of stamps, with a date of publication of 22 May 2019. However, despite these stamps’ future day of issue here they were, available […]

Reader’s Question: Color shift on DPRK stamp?

February 10, 2019February 10, 2019 Kimmo Kuikkalampi4131 Comment

(Reader’s question/Q&A) KSS member Kimmo has a question regarding this stamp: “I have a North Korean stamp from 1976 (SG N 1555; Mi 1527) with a color shift (red 3 mm right and 1 mm up from the correct alignment). I would like to know if members are able to provide me additional information on […]

The 1959 “Peaceful Reunification of Korea” stamps: more addendum

January 31, 2019December 25, 2019 Florian Eichhorn4541 Comment

In September 2018 KSS member Yi Yong Suk asked a question regarding his set of 1959 “Peaceful Reunification of Korea” stamps (Scott 175a / A141; KSC 151). One of our members, Kevin Mackeown, sent one cancelled example showing the imperforated stamps were real and then sent more examples used on cover. Now KSS member Florian […]

Reader’s Question: Was this North Korean block margin intentional?

January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 KSS Korea Philately Editor6316 Comments

(Reader’s question/Q&A) KSS member Robert Finder has a following question regarding this block of four + two partial stamps. These North Korean stamps are listed as Scott394 (A331)/KSC353 (issued 13 March 1962).