North Vietnam, 2. National Assembly, May 8th, 1960, Michel Nr. 128; The Vietnamese National Assembly is the highest Government body in the country. It is normally elected for a five year period. The 1.National Assembly took place on March 2nd, 1946 which would indicate that the second assembly should have been seated in March of 1951 but this did not take place due to the war with the French, the partitioning of the country and the constant delay caused by the South to call for general nationwide elections. A single stamp with a nominal of 12 xu was issued to promote the event. This covered the standard domestic letter rate. The stamp was perforated 11:0.

Mint block of four:

Rare single franking of the 12xu stamp on a letter sent from Hanoi to East Germany in March of 1961.

Below is a very rare letter that features a total of nine of the 2. General Assembly stamp along with North Vietnam Souvenir Sheet Nr. 3. for an overall franking of 120 xu or 1.2 Dong. The standard letter rate to West Germany at the time was 50 xu plus the 60 xu international registration fee  would have added to an overall required postage of 1.1 Dong. So, the letter may have been 10 grams heavier than the standard 20 gram. This is the only postally used letter thee editor has ever seen that carries a copy of this souvenir sheet. 

Another letter ex Klewitz from June of 1960 that carries a variety of 1960’s North Vietnamese stamps including a single copy of the 2. Assembly stamp. The letter was mailed registered and carries an overall franking of 72 xu. This postage would have been insufficient for a letter to West Germany (standard letter rate of 50 xu) but the clever sender wrote Cong Hoa Dan Chu Duc” which stands for “East Germany”. A letter to East Germany only cost 12 xu plus the 60xu international registration fee which made the franking look perfectly fine to the duped postal clerk.

Very rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in February of 1970 . The letter contains the entire im-perforated set of the Dien Bine Phu issue plus three of the national assembly set. Im-perfroated stamps on postal used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 1.61 Dong. The standard letter rate to West Germany amounted to 50 xu, the registration fee to 60 xu and the express mail fee to 50 xu for a required postage of 1.60 Dong.

Large envelope sent in June of 1960 by a member of the Czechoslovakian Embassy and by registered mail to Czechoslovakia. This letter is interesting in that it features a triple mix franking of official service stamps and general postage stamps in Old and New Dong. The collection of Old Dong stamps (August Revolution, Cam Phase Mine, Trade Exhibition, Peoples Sport, Union Congress and Democratic Women) amounted to a total of 3,650, the official World Union Congress stamps to 200D and as of March 1st, 1959 were worth only 3.85 New Dong. Together with the stamps in New Dong (Hong-Xuan Sluice, Radio Station Me Tri, 10 Years Peoples Republic of China, Women Day, Hung Vu’o’ng Temple and National Assembly) that amounted to 0.63xu the total postage came to 4.48 New Dong. Very unusual and rare combination.

Registration Nr. 100380

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