Popularity Of DPRK Stamps From The 70's And 80's?

Hi there, i'm new to this forum. I've just got into collecting stamps and am happy to have found this forum. Among my first stamps acquired are a lot of these DPRK stamps from the 70's and 80's, clearly manufactured and marketed at the international world. Their themes vary from western to traditional Korean, one a propaganda stamp about Kim Il Sung. I'd like to know if, despite the severe lack of official and accurate data on their availability, price or mintage(what is the correct word for that in philatelic parlance?), there is some clue as to their popularity amongst collectors. Maybe some one here collects them too? I hope that my having found them in a junk pile of cheap stamps aren't indicative of their potential/actual worth, they are all actually pretty appealing.

Welcome.

Short answer: There is a collector for everything. And likely a catalogue, too!

Suggest you search the topic in the Forum archives, as there has been lively discussion across the years.

Don't personally collect the DPRK. Chiefly due to the voluminous amt of material generated annually. Far exceeding actual domestic postal needs.

However, if you review Scott, the early releases include many high valuations.

Bottom line: Collect what you like. After more than 50 yrs, it's a hobby that still maintains my interest.

This should help you out.

https://koreastampsociety.org

Is it legal to collect and sell DPRK stamps? Aren't they prohibited?

If they are prohibited anywhere that's just ridiculous.
They are only stamps, same as those from Cuba or Iran.
Who would police all those worldwide collections out there?
Regards
DavidR

Thanks for the tips and link!

This reminds me of the prohibition on selling third reich collectibles and materials in Germany, but you'll find them nevertheless in any coin or antique shop there.

To The Forum!

Welcome.

There are fewer collectors for two reasons;
1. From 1950 to 2008 the US had an embargo against most North Korean goods. I am unsure of other specific countries but the UN also has had numerous trade resolutions since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006.
2. Some collectors have ethical reasons for not wanting to support a particular country.

Don

Source of hard currency for a dictatorship. Propaganda.

Who would police? ebay.

Maybe if they made enough $ on stamps, they would put away the bombs! Just dreaming?

The propaganda / hard currency argument is only valid if buying current material, not secondhand items 30 or 40 years old as jackofalltrades has.
ebay can only 'police' what is being sold on their site.
They are not the sole source of anything. If a collector wishes to build a collection of a particular country there are ways of acquiring items without resorting to ebay.
Regards
DavidR

That's probably explains why there was such a huge pile of them together. Previous owner must have just dumped them like N.Korea is taking a dump on the rest of the world with their latest missile tests! Looks like i'll be holding on to these for some time to come. Has anyone bought those commemorative summit stamps anyway? Not that i'd bother, but just curious

I got a bunch in a box I won at auction of WW material, mostly Asia. Lots of souvenir sheets, etc. I am putting mine in a stockbook and calling it good. I don't go out of my way to collect North Korea, but if it's in an auction lot, I'll take it. I have never checked at a stamp show but I would figure some dealers would have some around. I would guess that besides WW and Korea collectors, they would be of interest to topical collectors.

Agree with PAULSONJA , I also pickup a few hundred thru bulk lot purchases. I just throw them in a large envelope ,never ran across anyone willing to pay more than 2 cents each for them ....really no collector interest.

that's a pity. I suppose the best way to sell would be by topic as paul mentioned... or wait a few years... or lifetimes

I refuse to purchase DPRK stamps as new issues (for the reason RedwoodRandy gives: who could with good conscience support the Kim regime?) though obtaining them on the secondary market is fine. I more or less only passively collect them though, keeping the stuff that happens to come my way.

With only a few exceptions, DPRK stamps from the 70s and 80s don't sell for much: cancelled, maybe a few cents a piece; mint a little bit more. The valuable DPRK are some early issues (especially local printings), and postally used on cover.