The Busan Philatelic Club, 1994-1996

[darkormex]

I lived in Busan, South Korea from November of 1988, having arrived shortly after the Seoul Olympic Games had ended, until January of 1997, when my wife and 1 year old son moved back to the United States.

In 1994 I joined the Busan Philatelic Club.  I was invited and introduced to the club because I frequently bought stamps at one of the member's stores in downtown Busan in the Busan Dept. Store.  I bought many collections there including the fledgling Australia collection that I posted here on Stamp Bears.

Below is a picture taken on October 1, 1994.  I am in the back row near the center with the crooked tie.  Shortly after I joined we had an annual club dinner in a ballroom of a downtown hotel.

Would you believe we had our monthly meetings in the downtown post office?  They had a meeting room large enough to accommodate all of us and they encouraged our stamp club to meet there!

The senior members of the club are seated at the front of the picture.  The gentleman whose philatelic store I frequented is the fifth person from the left in the gray-blue suit.  He was always very helpful and he and his assistants always welcomed me to the store.  One day in 1995 I arrived at the store to find his assistants crying....he had passed away.  His name was Mr. Kim.  I did not know him well enough to know his first name.


Like many of you, I am passionate about stamp collecting most of the time and for me, a bus ride into downtown Busan to his store was the highlight of my week.  Good memories.

[darkormex]

In the photo above, seated to the right of Mr. Kim, is one of the founding members of the club, Mr. Jae-Seung Kim. He did a lot of research on the first stamps of Korea, the Mun issues. In September of 1994 he published a book called "Study on the First Korean Stamps Used in 1884". Below is the cover and in the next post, the front page.



Unfortunately it is silver on gray and the title does not scan very well.

[darkormex]

Shortly after I came back to the United States in 1997 I joined the Korean Philatelic Society here in the US. Mr. Kim's book was referenced and cited in several articles in their monthly newsletter and I believe he also had a membership in KPS as well. At that time I thought it was pretty cool that I had been a member of the same club in Busan, South Korea.

[darkormex]

Montly meeting announcements were always sent via mail and usually franked with a new stamp issue and a commemorative cancel..though not all the time. I saved most of the covers and am going to describe them in this thread.

One of the first announcements I received is postmarked September 7, 1994 and has a cancel commemorating the opening of the Pusan Bridge to Yongdo (Yong Island), just off the Pusan coast. This was a new and upgraded bridge at that time.



The stamp is Scott no. 1739 and was a heavily used definitive stamp at that time at the 130 won rate.  South Korea has never been big on the use of coils but this particular stamp is the only coil issued with the definitive set from 1993 to 1995. It was also available in sheet and booklet format.  The flower pictured is a Narcissus.  The letter was sent express mail or "bbareun upyon" which is denoted by the blue "1" sticker to the left of the stamp.

[darkormex]

In October 26, 1994 I received my first announcement with my own mailing label. I was in the database! Here the stamp is Scott no. 1751, issued in 1993. The flower is Weigela bortensis. No fancy postmark this time.

[darkormex]

The next cover is overpaid with a 390 won stamp showing a Korean Airlines passenger plane, Scott no. 1726. This stamp was also available in sheet and booklet format and is a medium rate definitive for packages and overseas letters.

The Korean post office stopped issuing airmail stamps in 1986.

[darkormex]

This next cover is franked with 3 copies of the 130 won Narcissus stamp and another express mail label, this time with the 우 symbol. This is the Korean letter pronounced "oo" like our letter "u" and is a universal symbol for postage or mail or the post office. The Korean word for stamp is 우표 "oopyo" and the Korean word for mail is 우편 "oopyeon"...etc.

[darkormex]

April 26, 1995 I received the below letter with 2 copies of Scott no. 1808 and 1 copy of Scott no. 1809. Respectively they were issued to commemorate the Centenary of the Modern Korean Judicial System and the Centenary of Modern Legal Education. Note the fancy cancels with the scales of justice and the law book.



Note, again, the express mail label.

[darkormex]

You can start to see a trend in the mailings here. Meeting announcements were mailed on the same date a new commemorative was issued and the cover would typically feature the stamp and the commemorative cancel that went with it.

Here is Scott no. 1781 featuring the gate to Beomosa Temple, an historic Buddhist Temple north of Pusan. Somewhere around our house I have pictures of a visit I made to the temple...at some point I will have to dig them out.

[darkormex]

Here is another temple gate from the same commemorative set. The name of the whole series of stamps is the Korean Beauty series. There are a number of different stamp sets to this series including pictures of traditional fans, temple gates, tile patterns, tapestries, etc...This stamp is Scott no. 1783 and features Pullomun Gate, Changdukkung Palace.



There are two commemorative cancels on this cover. The one at lower left is a commemorative cancel for the earlier described Beomosa Temple and the one on the stamp is for the Korean Beauty series.

[darkormex]

Starting in 1991, the Korean Post office issued several beautiful sets of stamps featuring flower on plain, white backgrounds. One of them is on the cover below, mailed on July 24, 1995. This is Scott no. 1761 and features Iris odaesanensis.

[darkormex]

On August 23, 1995, South Korean celebrated 50 years since the liberation from Japan in 1945. Two stamps were issued for this including the one below featuring a photo of Koreans celebrating overlaid by the Korean flag. Note the three commemorative cancels and the blue express mail label.

[darkormex]

On September 25, 1995, Korea issued the first set of stamps in what would become the Korean Literature series featuring stories, poems and songs. The Commemorative cancel and stamp below feature the Kuji-ga Song (The Turtle's Back Song). The Scott no. for this stamp is 1817. Many of these stamps were issued in 2-stamp souvenir sheet format.

[darkormex]

That is all for tonight. I have more that I will wrap up with by the weekend.

[Craig]

Wow, my goodness, what wonderful mementoes of the past. Can't wait to see more!

[darkormex]

Sometimes you don't realize you have a story to tell until someone reminds you. The covers you posted last night were that reminder for me Craig. Thank you.

[Admin Bear]

and what an amazing story indeed...

thank you for sharing this thread with us man...

[kacyds]

Amazing story and Im sure you have fond memories living in Korea. Thanks for sharing, and cant wait to see more.

[zepherusbane]

Those are great Darrin! I wish I had the foresight to collect some Korean stamps when I was living there in 92/93. I was in Taegu/Daegu.

[darkormex]

On October 21, 1995 the cover below was mailed to me. It has the common 130 won Narcissus definitive and has an additional sticker at the left that lets the sender and receiver know that the postal rates had changed. The sender in this case had used a 130 won stamp when the rate had gone up to 150 won on October 16. The Korean post office mailed it even though they recognized that it was underpaid.