North Vietnam, International Red Cross, May 8th, 1960, Michel Nr. 129-130; Two stamps ere issued to commemorate the International Red Cross, one with a nominal of 8 xu and one with 12 xu. Too little domestic mail has survived to determine what the 8 xu value was intended for. It may have been for post cards or printed matter but there is just no postal history that could document this. The stamps were issued perforated 11:0. The perforation process, while greatly improved from the early days, was still a fairly manual affair. This sometimes resulted that the identical stamp was issued in slightly different sizes. Here is the official Xunhasaba bulletin that was released on the issuance of these stamps.

Here is a mint pair of 8 xu stamp. The left stamp is about 2 mm taller than the right stamp.

The same can be observed with the 12 xu value. Again, the left stamp is about 2 mm taller than the right one.

Both values in mint blocks of four

The top left stamp of the 8 xu block shows a printing flaw that is probably the result of an object (hair?) falling on the printing plate. The result is a red dot at the chin of the woman and a long line in the gaze to the right.

The top right stamp also shows a small printing error resulting in a white dot to the left of the woman’s head.

Other errors do occur. Here is a double print of the black color on the 8 xu stamp that was caused by a vibrating rubber sheet during the black color print run.

Local letter cancelled in Yen-Bai on November 27th, 1960 using a single franking of the 8xu value. Since the standard letter rate was already 12xu at the time it is not clear why the 8xu franking would have been sufficient. May be the letter carried printed matter.

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

Registered air mail letter mailed in June of 1960 to the well known philatelist Theo Klewitz featuring two specimens of the 8xu Red Cross stamps plus one of the 12 xu stamps. The overall franking of the letter amounts to 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.

Letter with a mixed franking of four 12xu stamps (including one of the Red Cross stamps) for an overall postage of 48xu sent in June of 1960 from Yen-Bai to East Germany. The letter was addressed to a fellow Vietnamese in a local engineering school. Unusual small post office cancel in Tran-Yen.

Colorful mixed franking from 1960 featuring stamps from five different sets from the time. The overall postage amounted to 30xu. The letter rate to Western countries, such as England, amounted to 50xu as of March 1st, 1960. So, while this letter was under-franked this was not noted by the postal clerks.

First Day Cover mailed to Klewitz in West Germany. At 20 xu the letter was actually under-franked to West Germany but the postal clerk probably assumed the letter was directed to East Germany where the reduced 12 xu special rate to fellow socialist countries applied. 

Larger than usual envelope featuring one of the 20xu Air Mail and one of the 12 xu Red Criss stamps for an overall postage of 32 xu. Mailed to the well known philatelist Theo Klewitz in may of 1960.

Registration Nr. 100390

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