North Vietnam, 1. Anniversary of the Group Space Flight of Wostock 3 and Wostock 4, August 11th, 1963, Michel Nr. 265-267; The fascination with space travel was unabated as can be seen by this new issue on the Soviet group space flight the year before. Also see stamps were much in demand in the thematic collectors market. Three stamps in the nominals of 12 xu, 20 xu nd 30 xu were issued in perforation 11.0. This issue was intentionally released im-perforated by postal authorities.

Here is the mint im-perforated set:

Air mail letter sent in August of 1976 a Vietnamese Worker in East Germany using one of the 50xu Indochina Agreement stamps plus one of the 20xu Group Space Flight stamps for an overall postage of 70 xu.

Here is a letter (ex Klewitz) that features the entire set among other North Vietnamese stamps. It carries an overall postage of 75 xu which was actually too little for a registered letter to West Germany (Tariff of 1.1 Dong). The letter was clearly marked as going to “Allemagne”. The abbreviation “BRD” stood for “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” which stood for West Germany. So, here the postal clerk simply made a mistake. The error was never caught and no postage due markings were applied.

First Day Cover mailed to Klewitz in West Germany. The letter is franked with 62 xu which was slightly above the required rate of 50 xu for a standard 20 gram letter.

First Day Cover this time with the im-perforated stamps.

Registered letter sent to Klewitz in West Germany . The letter was actually under-franked at 74 xu as the registered letter rate t Western Europe was 1.10 Dong. However, the postal clerk was duped into thinking that the letter was routed towards East Germany (RD Allemagne ( East Germany) where the required rate as only 72 xu (12 xu standard letter rate plus 60 xu international registration fee)

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in March of 1973. The letter contains one of the 20 xu stamps of the inter-planetary set plus a number of im-perforated stamps of the “Wostock 3 and 4” set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall franking amounted to 1.92 Dong which is above of the 1.60 Dong that would have been required for a standard registered express mail letter. So the letter may have contained a shipment of stamps and was heavier than the standard 20 grams.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1969  featuring the 20 and 30 xu stamps from the set. The overall postage amounted to 2.18 Dong which was in excess of the required postage for a standard registered express mail letter to West Germany (1.60 Dong). However, the letter may have been heavier than the standard 20 grams.

Very rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in September of 1973 featuring the set twice plus half of the im-perforated set of the folk dances set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage of the letter amounted to 1.98 Dong which appears to be in excess of the required tariff for a standard 20 gram express mail letter to West Germany. Initially the letter was intended to be sent by registered mail (Tariff of 1.60 Dong), however that did not take place.

Mixed currency mailing from the Vietnamese Red Cross to the Red Cross Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland using four stamps denominated in Old Dong (Railroad and Handicraft sets) in the amount of 3,000 Old Dong (worth only 3 New Dong after the 1,000:1 devaluation on March 1st, 1959). Stamps in New Dong were added in the amount of 1.53D were added for an overall postage of 4.53 New Dong. The letter carries also an im-perforated 50xu stamp of the 1962 Flower set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare.

Colorful mixed currency franking of the 1,000D Handicraft stamp (that was devalued 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 and hence only worth 1D at the time of mailing) with other NVN stamps (including the 30xu Wostok 3 stamp) for an overall postage of  2.36D on a rare registered letter to Czechoslovakia mailed in December of 1964.

Registration Nr. 100800

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