The New York World's Fair in 1964

Shown above is the souvenir sheet and stamps that commemorate South Korea's participation in the 1964 New York World's Fair. I added these items to my collection a few months ago and have enjoyed having them in my stockbook. The blue stamp depicts the Korean exhibit at the New York World's Fair and the yellow stamp depicts ginseng root paired with an unisphere and cargo ship. The specifics for these postal issues are as follows:

• Date of Issue: 22 April 1964
• Scott Catalogue: 432, 433
• Korean Postage stamp Catalogue (KPC): C208, C209
• Quantity Produced: 50,000 s/s and 250,000 stamps

The 1964 World's Fair was one of the largest fairs to ever be held in the United States. The theme of the fair was "peace through understanding", which was symbolized by a 12-story high stainless steel model of the earth called "unisphere" - see image below. 

What makes South Korea's participation in the 1964 New York World's Fair significant is it was the first world fair South Korea participated in since the founding of the modern nation. South Korea was represented by over 360 people who traveled to New York to build its exhibit and following the fair many of these people stayed in Flushing, New York as immigrants and opened up shops and restaurants which flourished and today is home to one of the largest Korea Towns in the United States.

For those who can read Korean or who have a translation tool available I highly recommend reading the following article, which explains South Korea's participation in the fair in greater detail - http://ny.koreatimes.com/article/547609

I had a good time reading about the 1964 New York World's Fair and had I not added these Korean stamps and souvenir sheet to my collection I may never have gotten the chance to learn about this interesting historical event.

...learning about culture and history through Korean stamps and having a blast. Until next time.

v/r

Beezer