Traveling through history at world stamp exhibit | ||
2015.07.30 |
Many people in their 30s or older may have once had a childhood fascination with the hobby of collecting stamps, or philately. The colorfully designed stamps pasted on the long-awaited letters were attention grabbing icons during those times. Although local Korean stamps each had their own unique signature, exotic foreign stamp collections, held by a select few, were often the target of envy.
The PHILAKOREA 2014 World Stamp Exhibition, going on from August 7 to 12 at the COEX exhibition hall in southern Seoul, is attracting many people with exactly such memories.
This exhibition has some of the world's rarest stamps and special envelopes, musical performances, handwritten letters, one-of-a-kind personal stamps, diary entries from philately hobbyists worldwide, a memorial hall dedicated to the history of Korean postal services and even a display showing off the future of stamp technology.
The Inverted Jenny was the first dedicated stamp for airmail in the USA, printed on May 18, 1918. The plane image was mistakenly printed upside down and is today one of the world's rarest stamps. With a face value of only 24 cents, it now holds an estimated market value of about KRW 1.5 billion.
Rare specimens also include a two cent British Guiana stamped envelope printed in 1852. It was originally planned in rose, but blue was the result. This particular item is now priced at about KRW 1 billion. Other rarities are the String of Pearls envelope, with nine of China's first stamp, the Five Candarin Large Dragon, worth about KRW 2 billion, and the Mauritius Proof, a misprinted stamp proof from 1847 where "Post Office" was printed as "Post Paid." Only a single copy of this last exists, giving it a market value of about KRW 1.2 billion.
Korea first introduced a modern postal system in 1884, during the late Joseon era, and is this year celebrating 130 years of postal history. At the postal centennial in 1984, Korea hosted its first World Stamp Exhibition, backed by the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie. Since then, Korea Post has been hosting the exhibit once per decade. This year is its fourth exhibition so far.
Some 519 collections covering 200,000 stamps from 68 countries were submitted to the philately contest at this exhibition. This is despite the evolution and distribution of high speed internet networks worldwide and the fact that mobile devices are quickly replacing postage stamps and handwritten letters with emails, text messages and social networking services. It proves that the past's anticipation of mail and the yearning hearts and hands that dispatched hand-written letters to mailboxes worldwide, is a common memory of humanity, a lasting nostalgic gesture in an ever-speeding world.
By Paik Hyun
Korea.net Staff Writer
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