Korean Postage stamp Catalogue (KPC)

Today's post is on the Korean Postage stamp Catalogue (KPC). For collectors of Korean stamps there is no better catalogue out there and I would go as far as to say that owning this catalogue is almost mandatory. My wife picked me up a copy of this catalogue while in Seoul last summer (~ $30) and at the time I was not yet decided on whether I wanted to specialize in collecting Korean stamps or not. Well needless to say after spending a week or so flipping through the catalogue and getting acquainted with the variety of stamp issues for South Korea I decided I was going to focus on this country.

While I do not necessarily use this catalogue as a price guide (one needs to convert from won to dollars if they do), I do rely on it heavily for details about the stamp issue and I use it as my checklist for what I own and what I still need to hunt for.

The pros to this catalogue is it depicts EVERY stamp that has been issued so you are able to clearly see color variations and stamp designs. One of my biggest problems with the Scott Catalogue is they only depict a small overall percentage of stamps issued, which makes identification difficult at times. Another thing I like about this catalogue is there are small empty squares beside the price, which is perfect for use as a checklist. For me I fill in the square if I have the stamp already and the remaining empty ones are the issues I still need to track down. The size of the catalogue is also convenient and allows for one to easily carry it around without being burdened by the size and weight.

The only con some people might find with this catalogue is the bulk of the written text is in Korean (understandably) and requires the use of a translator. I own an electronic pocket translator (SHARP PW-5300) that I rely on for this task.

For those who do not own a copy of this catalogue, but are interested in learning more about the stamps that South Korea has issued over the years...don't fret. The Korea Stamp Society (KSS) has indexed all of the issues by year and have included detailed information for each stamp! You can visit the KSS page here. If you are a collector of Korean stamps and are not yet a member please consider becoming one.

Cheers!