South Vietnam; Prepared but not issued Stamps, 1975, Michel Nr. SVN V-XX; Anyone who has ever been involved in preparing a stamp issue knows that the various processes within the postal administration and the printing works can require months of preparation before a stamp that was planed can finally be released. South Vietnam struggled mightily with inflation which required a frequent increase in postal rates and hence stamp nominals. The postal administration had already sent eight new issues in updated nominals to the printers when the country was taken over by the Viet Cong. As result these stamps were not officially issued any longer but remained in the archives of the postal administration. From there they were later sold by the new administration in mint condition into the philatelic market. No genuine cancelled specimens or postal history exists of these stamps. Sometimes you may see favor cancelled letters or cards that feature these stamps with an April 30th, 1975 (the last day of the South Vietnamese regime and the day of the fall of Saigon) Saigon cancel. These were produced after the end of the war by profiteers using a stolen and backdated canceler. The perforated version of these not issued stamp are not particularly hard to find but that is not the case with the imperforate version. Only a few sheets of each stamp issue were left imperforate and as a result they are rather rare.

Day of Electrification, Perforated 13.75:14.25

Mint block offer of the 25D value

Complete mint sheet of the 25D value.

A small number of imperforate sets have come to market. Here is a pair of them.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

National Library, Perforated 14.25:13.75

Imperforate pair of the National Library stamp.

Complete mint sheet of the  5D value.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

Trunk Sisters (Michel Nr. SVN 550) overprinted with new 10D value.

No Enpreuve de Luxe was produced of this overprinted stamp.

Dragons, Perforated 14.25:13.75

A few of the prepared but not issued stamps were left imperforate and sold this way after the war. Here is the set of these imperforate trial proofs.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

Economical Development, Perforated 12.5:12

A small number of imperforate sets have come to market. Here is a pair of them.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

Development of Rural Areas, Perforated 12:12.5

Mint blocks of four of the set

A small number of imperforate sets have come to market. Here is a pair of them.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

Means of Transport, Perforated 12.5:12

Mint blocks of four of the set

A few of the prepared but not issued stamps were left imperforate and sold this way after the war. Here is the set of these imperforate trial proofs.

Enpreuve de Luxe; printed on cardboard paper.

Temple, Perforated 14.25:13.75

A few of the prepared but not issued stamps were left imperforate and sold this way after the war. Here is the stamp in an imperforate trial proof.

Since these stamps were never issued before the South Vietnamese Regime collapsed on April 30th, 1975 no genuine postal history can exist. Beware, sometimes so called First Day Covers” with these stamps are offered that carry the cancel “Saigon Viet-Nam” and a date of April 30th, 1975. These are private fabrications that were made after the war with a stolen cancel. 

Registration Nr. 201550

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