Unified Vietnam, 120. Birthday of Rabindrahnat Tagore, September 20th, 1982, Michel Nr. 1257; Rabindrahnat was an Indian poet and philosopher that won the Nobel Peace Price in 1913 as he advocated the peaceful balance between East and West. A single stamp with a 30 xu nominal and perforation of 11 was issued.

The stamp exist on white and tanned paper. Below are both specimens:

White Paper:

Tanned Paper

This stamp was not officially issued imperforate, however, a very small number of imperfroate trial proofs have come to market. Below is a very rare imperforate pair that is missing the black printing run. The upper two stamps also are missing the light brown color and just shows the underlying grey. Note that both bottom stamps show the plate error of “vertical line in T short” also later appeared on the finished sheet (Fields 1 and 2).

Mint block of eight stamps that represent fields 55-58 (upper row) and 65-68 (lower row) that features a number of re-occuring plate errors that have become known on this issue.

Detailed scans of the affected areas

Field 55 “h in Chinh seperated”

Field 57 “upper right corner is missing”

Field 65 “AM in VIETNAM thin”

Field 67 “upper right corner retouched”

Field 68 “star on left partially missing” and “D in Rabrindahnat broken”

Mint strip of six stamps that shows the re-occuring plate error on Fields 1 and 2 “vertical line of T in VIETNAM short”. This error was later retouched and is hence only present on a partial printing of the issue.

Detailed scan of the affected area:

Mint block of eighteen stamps from the top left portion of the sheet and from a later printing. Note that the plate error on Field 1 and 2 “vertical line of T in VIETNAM short” has now been retouched.  The block shows a number of re-occuring plate errors (some already described above).

Field 4 “brown dot at left side of margin”

Field 11 “A in Rabindrahnat short and dark brown square below”

Field 12 ““upper right corner is missing”

Field 16 “upper part of R in Rabindrahnat open”

The third row of the block also shows a small perforation error in the form of missing perforation holes throughout the entire row. Here is a detailed scan of one of those areas:

Mixed franking of the 1D Asia Games value together with two 30 xu Rabindranaht stamps paying an overall postage of 1.60D on an international letter sent from Hanoi to Czechoslovakia in November of 1982.

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 to Klewitz in September of 1984. Th letter features nine of the Rabindrahnat stamps. The top left stamp shows the plate error “A in Rabindrahnat short and dark brown square below”. Error stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage of the letter amounted to 49 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter setoff rom Quan 5 to Klewitz in September of 1984. The letter features a block of four of the Rabindrahnat stamps plus other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 46.24 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent in February of 1985 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter features half of the perforated Protected Animals set, Karl Marx stamps in different color shades, Tagore and Vietnamese Union Conference stamps for an overall postage of 27.60D (including the red free frank for 90xu). Fragment of the the green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered air mail letter sent in September of 1986 as a mixed currency franking from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter carries a mix of stamps denominated in old Dong (Hanoi Liberation, Rabrindanaht) and new Dong (Labor Day, United Nations, Halley, Traditional Houses). The Vietnamese Government conducted a devaluation of the Dong on September 14th, 1985. This meant that all stamps issued prior to this date were only worth one tenth at the time of mailing. The overall postage hence amounted to  2.60 oD =0.26 nD. plus the stamps in new Dong (38D)  for 38.26 nD. Fragment of green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered air mail letter sent in December of 1986 as a mixed currency franking from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter caries the entire perforated Bronze Vessel set plus stamps from the Reconstruction, Thälmann, Communist Party and Rabrindanath sets. The Communist Party stamps are in the rare perforation of 12.5. The Rabrindanath stamp was still denominated in old Dong. The Vietnamese Government conducted a devaluation of the Dong on September 14th, 1985. This meant that all stamps issued prior to this date were only worth one tenth at the time of mailing. The overall postage hence amounted to  1.20 oD =0.12 nD. plus the stamps in new Dong (64 nD) plus the red free frank for 346 nD for 410.12 nD. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered air mail letter sent in June of 1987 as a mixed currency franking from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter carries the perforated National Assembly stamp set plus stamps from the Contract with the USSR, Defense and production, Rabrindanath and  Worker Militia sets. The Worker Militia, Rabrindanath, USSR and production and Defense stamps were still denominated in old Dong while all other stamps were already denominated in new Dong.  The Vietnamese Government conducted a devaluation of the Dong on September 14th, 1985. This meant that all stamps issued prior to this date were only worth one tenth at the time of mailing. The overall postage hence amounted to 22.20 oD =2.22 nD. plus the stamps in new Dong (160 nD) plus the red free frank for 223 nD for 385.22nD.

Registration Nr. 103270

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