(Part 2 of 3) Like most countries which at one time used revenue stamps, South Korea has a long history of using local revenue stamps. Until the 1970s these local revenue stamps were produced locally, each with a unique design per province or municipality. From 1976 onwards local revenue stamps were produced nationally (with standardized designs) by the national printing company (KOMSCO) and then “localized” by simply printing the name of a province or municipality on these stamps. However, the city of Seoul has always used its own revenue stamps with a design unique to Seoul which lasted almost unchanged for 6 decades.
3. First Won series (1962 – 1975)
The introduction of the hwan did not stop inflation in South Korea. Therefore, yet another new currency was introduced in 1962, the “new won”, which in turn necessitated a new series of revenue stamps. Unlike with the earlier series, a lot of documentary evidence has been found in the NAK files regarding this particular series, making it possible to determine the publication date of individual stamps. The earliest ordinance found describing this series is from October 1, 1962 (BA0089300; BA0089261), the last from September 1, 1970 (NAK BA0089317). Since the next series was introduced on October 22, 1975, it is reasonable to assume that the first series of stamps was in use between 1962 and 1975. However, apparently these stamps did not immediately lose their value: several documents issued in 1976 and 1977 are known with “mixed franking”.
Size: the sizes listed are the official numbers as mentioned in ordinances. However, this is the size of the “box” in the centre of the stamps. The overall size is larger: all the stamps below are 43mm x 30mm.
Perforation: the perforations are very crude. Buxsoft PERFOMaster 3000 measures the perforations as between 13 and 13¼, but most commonly as listed below.
This table lists all the stamps as one series in order of values:
| Nr. | Value | Publication date | Colour | Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLR1_1 | 1 won | 1 October 1962 | Orange | UNK |
| SLR1_5 | 5 won | 1 October 1962 | Red | 13? |
| SLR1_10 | 10 won | 1 October 1962 | Brown | 13? x 13? |
| SLR1_20 | 20 won | 3 May 1968 | Orange | 13? x 13? |
| SLR1_20b | 20 won | 1962-1968? | Blue | Rouletted? |
| SLR1_50 | 50 won | 1 October 1962 | Green | 13? x 13? |
| SLR1_100 | 100 won | 1 October 1962 | Indigo | 13? x 13? |
| SLR1_500 | 500 won | 7 March 1969 | Purple | UNK |
Technically the first day of issue was usually the day after the date published in the ordinances.
The blue 20 won stamp corresponds to the 20 hwan stamp, but this colour variant is not mentioned in the regulations. All other colours mentioned in the table above are translations of the colours mentioned in the archival documents. However, the orange 20 won is only mentioned in 1968 for the first time. Possibly the 20 hwan was “reused” as a 20 won stamp from / after 1962 but was no longer in use by 1968. Then when the orange 20 won was introduced in 1968 perhaps the orange 1 won stamp, which itself was phased out in 1968, was reused for the 20 won value? The 1968 ordinance compares the 1968 text with that of 1962 to show changes, so it is unlikely that an unknown regulation was published between 1962 and 1968.(3)
The table shows how the series evolved over time. The green fields indicate the first year in which a certain value is mentioned in an ordinance, the blue fields indicate years in which a value was listed again, a red field is the last year in which a value is listed. It is apparent from the ordinances that the 1 won stamp was introduced in 1962 but was phased out in 1968, while a new 20 won stamp was introduced in that same year.
The 500 won seal was added as last addition to the series in March 1969, with an example of this stamp shown in the ordinance. The October 1975 ordinance (see next series) lists the number of stamps of this series still available in 1974 per individual value, ranging from just 105.000 stamps of the 5 won value to 30.005.000 of the 50 won value.
New design?
The NAK files contain a document (BA0089313) from 1969 which shows a drawing of what looks like an alternative or new design for Seoul local revenue stamps. This design was never used and it is not known what building is shown in the design. The document does give the reason why a new value was needed: it turned out to be much more cost effective to produce a 500 won value stamp for use on documents needing higher values than to produce 5 times as many 100 won stamps for the same type of documents.
4. Second Won series (1975 – 2011?)
The second won series, easily recognizable due to the much smaller size of the stamps when compared with the first won series, was first listed in an ordinance dated 1975.10.22. At this time South Korea was going through yet another economy drive and creating smaller stamps meant more stamps on one (standardized) sheet of printing paper. Other than the size both the design and the colours of the stamps remained, value for value, unchanged.
Quite a few values in this series were apparently very seldom used. The 5 won value has so far not shown up in any collection while values which were only included as needed later on during the 1980s have also been difficult to find. Details such as colours listed for these stamps are only known due to such details being mentioned in ordinances.
The last ordinance in which these stamps were listed for usage in the entire city was published in September 2011 (for “localized” stamps in 2015), but there is no exact “last date of usage” known. The next ordinance mentioning local revenue stamps for Seoul, published in August 2013, ordered all remaining stamps to be burned(!) at the local (neighbourhood) offices. This was regrettable, as it seems this was done too rigorously leading to a report by the Seoul Ombudsman regarding archival duties of the municipality for historical purposes. (See below for more information.)
Examples of most of the values in the series:
| Nr. | Value | Publication date | Colour | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLR2_5 | 5 won | October 1975 | red | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_10 | 10 won | October 1975 | brown | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_20 | 20 won | October 1975 | orange | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_50 | 50 won | October 1975 | green | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_60 | 60 won | February 1983 | red/pink | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_100 | 100 won | October 1975 | indigo | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_200 | 200 won | February 1976 | black | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_220 | 220 won | February 1983 | azure | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_250 | 250 won | Dec-1985 | pink | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_300 | 300 won | October 1979 | dark grey | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_330 | 330 won | February 1983 | yellow | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_350 | 350 won | June 1990 | yellow | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_450 | 450 won | June 1990 | azure | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_500 | 500 won | October 1975 | purple | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_550 | 550 won | May 1988 | dull brown | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_600 | 600 won | June 1990 | yellow | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_730 | 730 won | May 1988 | “mazarine” blue | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_750 | 750 won | June 1990 | “mazarine” blue | 25mm x 22mm |
| SLR2_1000 | 1000 won | February 1976 | red | 37mm x 25mm |
| SLR2_3500 | 3500 won | January 1991 | bordeaux red | 37mm x 25mm |
| SLR2_5000 | 5000 won | February 1976 | azure blue | 37mm x 25mm |
| SLR2_10000 | 10000 won | February 1976 | turquoise | 37mm x 25mm |
The publication date in the table above is the date of publication of the ordinance. The stamps were usually sold “from the day following publication of this ordinance”. The 250 won listed in the 30 December 1985 ordinance was therefore sold from 1 January 1986 onwards.
Size: the sizes listed are the official numbers as mentioned in ordinances. However, this is the size of the “box” in the centre of the stamps. The overall size is larger: all the stamps below 1000 won are 31mm x 28mm, while the 1000 won and higher values are 43mm x 30mm. Note that the larger stamps are identical in size to the regular stamps in the first won series.
Perforation: when using BuxSoft PERFOMaster 3000 different perforations are returned. For the values below 1000 won the perforation is usually between 12½ and 13¾ (both horizontal and vertical), but the highest quality stamps are rather consistently 13¼ x 13½. The larger stamps are more “stable”: they are usually 13½ x 15¼.
Graphical overview of the whole series of stamps, using the years mentioned in the ordinances for each of the values, with emphasize on first (Start) and last (End) years:
What this overview shows is how stamp colours changed position. For instance: when the 5 won stamp was discontinued in 1983, the 60 won inherited the red colour. The same “inheritance of colour” is true for the 330 and 350 won stamps and the 730 and 750 won stamps.
