South Vietnam, Postage Due Stamps 1956, June 4th, 1956, Michel Nr. SVN P11-14; Four stamps in nominals of 20D, 30D, 50D and 100D were issued in perforation 13.5. These nominals were pretty high for this time period even if one considers that postage due fees carried a 100% surcharge on the missing postage. The standard domestic letter rate in 1956 stood at only 1.50D. SICP member Lucian Lu has suggested that the purpose of these stamps was likely to be also of fiscal nature which meant that the high values could have been used to pay for stamp taxes on legal documents such as real estate transactions or other large purchases. Used samples mostly stem from the 1970’s when postage rates were already much higher.

Here is the mint set.

and here is the postally used set in rare large multiples

These stamps were not officially released imperforate, however, a small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Here is the imperforate set in mint blocks of nine.

Domestic letter sent by a member of the military to a civilian in Saigon in May of 1974. The letter was dropped into the mail box without any stamps and hence was charged a 30D postage due penalty upon arrival (twice the 25D domestic letter rate) . This was made up of a 20D and 30D postage die stamp.

Domestic letter (full content preserved) sent in September of 1974 from Gia Duc (small post office) to Saigon and franked with a single 10D Development of Rural Post stamp. This was 15D short of the required 25D postage and hence a 30D postage due stamp was added on the reverse upon arrival.

Postal stationary folded aerogram sent in August of 1974 from the United States to Saigon. The 18C postage imprinted in the stationary was insufficient at the time of mailing and hence a violet postage due cachet of 16C was struck on the envelope. The 16C postage due and 16C penalty later on were converted in Saigon into a 75D amount due (witness the manuscript remark “Tal 75” in blue ink in front). Three 5D postage due  and two 30D postage due stamps of the 1955/1956 stamps were added on the back of the envelope to cover this amount. This cover impressively shows that almost 20 years after issuance these postage due stamps still remained at postal counters.

Registration Nr. 200145

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