Stamp Collecting Blog - the premier resource for exclusive stamp information and news
Postage stamps and philately of North Korea
This is index page for articles about Postage stamps and philately of North Korea . Below you find excerpts on available stories. To read the full stories, please subscribe or sign in.
Genuine color varieties that stamp catalogs omit
In late October I wrote about color changelings and showed some examples of North Korean stamps. On the end of that same post I promised a sequel in which I'd display some genuine color varieties (that stamp catalogs don't talk much). First, how do I know these are genuine? It's all because older editions of Michel provide a tiny footnote which state that North Korean stamps issued in sheetlet format do have slightly different colors than single stamps issued in regular sheets. Let's take a closer look of some examples on what this statement means in practice.
...(396 words,4 images, 0 comments)
A more scientific view on color variations and changelings on postage stamps
Each time any of stamp collectors comes up with a color variation, there's a pretty good chance that at least one or few 'nay-sayers' will immediately stand up and say that it's not genuine, but a color changeling caused by exposure to light, heat, humidity, chemical or whatever. Though I agree that certain level of skepticism is only for the good, I do feel that labeling all color variations as environmental changelings (at least without proper explanation) is not a working option either. Though it would require a high-end science lab to prove what's actually happened, there's somewhat 'basic' and logical science behind the everyday phenomena that causes colors to fade and vary.
...(928 words,6 images, 7 comments)
How to check if a stamp is a forgery or genuine, lesson 3 - North Korea 1967 postal forgery
In my recent blog entry I half-jokingly remarked that likely nobody's fool enough to make a forgery of North Korean stamps. Well, let me stand corrected, because one of those oddball items that I considered as color changeling for good number of years turned out to be a (postal) forgery upon closer inspection. ...(454 words,3 images, 4 comments)
Overinking or something else on North Korean 1963 Orange Catchfly postage stamp?
Here's another interesting variant that caught the corner of my eye when I was sorting through some new additions to my North Korean collection. In 1963 North Korea issued a set of five flower stamps, and based on catalog details these should have nothing special. Except, I've got copies of 10ch Orange Catchfly stamp with 'normal 3' and 'larger than normal 3' in year inscription.
...(225 words,2 images, 2 comments)
North Korea 1976 postage stamp - unlisted perf variety
In Feb 5 Juche 65 (1976) North Korea issued a set of three stamps featuring ducks and geese. According to North Korean Stamp Catalog (issued by Korea Stamp Company, DPR Korea) the stamps were designed by Kim Hui Won and Ri Song Thaek, and they were printed in offset on ungummed paper with perforation 11¾.
...(230 words,2 images, 7 comments)
Article categories
- Generally speaking about stamps, philately and collecting
- Learn the basics of stamp collecting - advice on how to get started
- How to preserve and build a stamp collection
- Philatelic knowledge base
- Stamp forgeries, philatelic fakes and other counterfeits
- Stamp collecting software (inventory programs and databases, online stamp catalogs etc)
- Straight talk about stamp values (both catalog and real world)
- Back of book stamps and other unusual stamp-like items
- EFO-stamps: errors, freaks and oddities on postage stamps
- Q & A - Ask anything about stamps and collecting
- Article index by country and topic
- SCB's Digital Perforation Gauge