Unified Vietnam, 4. Congress of the Communist Party, November 12th, 1976, Michel Nr. 874 – 879; Six stamps with nominals of  2 xu, 3 xu, 5 xu, 10 xu, 12 xu and 20 xu were issued in perforation 11.0.

Here is the mint set.

Here is a perforation error on the 10xu stamp. The perforation comb was improperly adjusted resulting in the perforation to appear in the middle of the stamp design and leaving the right selvage imperforate.

Two First Day Covers featuring the special cancel of November 12th, 1976.

Single franking of the 2xu stamp on a domestic letter sent in April of 1977 to Le Day Lieu. HCM machine transit cancel on the reverse. Illegible arrival cancel. 2 xu certainly was not sufficient postage for this letter but there are no remarks or “T” hand stamps that would have indicated that additional postage was due. Unusual.

Unusual use of the 2xu value in a multiple franking of a letter sent inside Can-Tho HCM from October 1977. 10 xu reprinted the intra-city rate in force at the time.

Mixed franking of the 2 xu Communist Party stamps (4) together with the 2 xu Final Victory stamp paying an overall postage of 10 xu on a domestic air mail letter sent from HCM City to Hoc Mon in January of 1979.

Mixed franking of the 2 xu Communist Party stamp together with the 10xu Sunflower stamp paying an overall postage of 12 xu on a domestic letter (full contents preserved) sent within HCM City in June of 1978.

Multiple franking of the 3 xu value (2) paying an overall postage of 6 xu on a domestic letter sent from Da Nag to HCM City in November of 1977.

Multiple franking of the 3xu value (4) paying an overall postage of 12 xu on a domestic letter sent from Lieng Giang to HCM City in September of 1978.

Mixed franking of the 3 xu Communist Party value together with two of the 6 xu National Assembly stamps paying an overall postage of 15 xu on a domestic letter sent from Hanoi to HCM City in December of 1976. Hanoi transit and HCM City arrival cancels on the reverse.

Single franking of the 5 xu value on a domestic letter set from Bao Loc to Dalat in January of 1979. This postage was insufficient and as a result a black “T” hand stamp was applied indicating that additional postage was due upon delivery.

Mixed franking of the 1D Dragonfly stamp (2) together with four each of the 5xu and 10xu Communist Party stamps paying an overall postage of 2.60D on an international air mail letter sent from HCM City to France in May of 1977.

Single franking of the 10 xu stamp on a domestic letter sent from Vinh Long to HCM City in September of 1977. HCM City machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Single franking of the 12 xu value on a domestic letter sent from Rai Binh Viet to HCM City in July of 1977. HCM City machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Single franking of the 12xu value on a letter sent from Bac Vinh (small post office) to East Germany in March of 1977. On December 1st, 1976 the letter rate to East Germany had increased to 60xu so the letter was under-franked. As a result a postage due penalty stamp was applied to the letter charging an additional 96xu (= double the missing postage of 48xu).

Rare single franking of the 20xu value on a local letter to Luan in December of 1982. The domestic letter rate apparently had increased from 12xu to 20xu in the late 1970’s.

Single franking of the 20 xu stamp on a domestic letter (full contents preserved) sent from HCM City to Hanoi in November of 1978. Hanoi machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Rare multiple franking of the 5xu value paying a 10xu domestic letter rate of 10xu on a local letter (full content preserved) sent from Cang Long (a village outside of HCM City) to Ho Chi Minh City. It appears that this represents the 50% discounted intra-city rate in 1978. HCM City arrival cancels on the reverse.

Spectacular and rare multiple franking of the 20xu value paying an overall postage of 2.20D on a register letter to Paris, France. Paris arrival cancel on the reverse.

Multiple franking of the 20xu Communist Party value together with a 12xu August Revolution stamp paying a 32xu postage for a registered local letter sent from Hanoi to HCM City in March of 1979.

Mixed franking of the 20xu Communis Party stamp (4) along with the 1D Air Defense stamp paying an over all postage of 1.80D on a letter from Ho Chi Minh City to East Berlin in June of 1978.

Local letter sent to Ho Chi Minh City in August of 1984. The letter carries the 20 xu stamp of the Hymenopterons series plus two values of the 3xu Communist Party set for an overall postage of 26xu.

Interesting mixed franking of stamps from North Vietnam (including a block of four of the 3 xu Communist Party stamp) and the National Liberation Front sent from Ho Chi Minh City to Paris, France in April of 1977. Since the NLF stamps were already denominated in North Vietnamese Dong, this mixed franking was allowed (unlike the NLF stamps that were denominated in South Vienamese Dong). The letter carried an overall postage of 2.60 Dong. The 20g air mail letter rate to Europe at the time amounted to 1.40 Dong, so this letter must have exceeded the first weight level.

Mixed franking with two nice blocks of four of both of the 12xu stamps together with two Dragon Fly and October Revolution stamps paying an overall postage of 2.08D on an air-mail letter to Paris, France.

Mixed franking of three October Revolution stamps together with other NVN stamps (including two of the 3xu Communist Party stamps) paying an overall postage of 2.08D on an air-mail letter sent to Paris, France in 1979.

Air mail letter featuring the entire set and other NVN stamps paying an overall postage of 4.30D on an air-mail letter sent from Ho Chi Minh City in September of 1977.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in May of 1977. The letter carries the dragon fly set from 1977 plus some of the flag issues. The overall postage amounted to 3.52 Dong Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.

Very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1977. The letter carries a number of the perforated stamps for the set plus some im-perforated stamps from the dragon fly set. There are also two values of he 4. Party Congress. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 3.96 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Fulda green customs cachet on front.

Mixed franking of one of the black 12xu Aircraft Shot Down stamps together with a number of other NVN stamps (including three of the 20xu Communist Party stamps) for an overall postage of 2.60 on an air-mail letter sent to Paris, France in August of 1977.

Another very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1977. The letter carries the remainder of the perforated stamps of the set plus an im-perforated stamp from the dragon fly set. There is also a 10 xu stamp of the 4. Congress. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 4.18 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Fulda green customs cachet on front.

Very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1977. The letter carries most of the im-perforated goat beetle set plus an im-perforated stamp of the dragon fly set. There is also a block of four of the 10 xu stamp. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 4.00 Dong.Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda customs cachet on front.

Letter mailed in September of 1977 from Hanoi to Klewitz. It carries a mixed franking of the working elephant, fish and 4. Communist Party Congress for an overall postage of 1.40 Dong.

Air mail letter from February of 1978 sent to Paris, France. It carries a block of ten of the 10 xu stamp, an October Revolution and the “Poland” and Communist Party stamps for an overall postage of 2.08 Dong.

Rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in July of 1978. It carries the entire set, some of the October revolution stamps , orchid stamps and Communist Party Congress stamps. The overall postage amounted to 4.95 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.

Rare express mail letter sent from Hai Phong to Klewitz in August of 1978. it caries a number of different color variations (including the blue stem and blue pistil variations) of the flower stamps plus three values of the October Revolution issue. The overall postage amounted to 4.82 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Rare registered express mail letter sent from Ho Chi Minh City to West Germany in August of 1980. It features the 6 xu and 12 xu post master perforation stamps alongside some other NVN stamps. It also carries a 3 Dong National Liberation Front (Vietcong) stamp issued in 1970.  These stamps were denominated in South Vietnamese Dong and hence not valid for postage in North Vietnam. Nevertheless the postal clerk appeared to have been unaware of the fact and accepted the stamp as postage. The overall postage (with the 3 Dong NLF stamp) amounted to 4.39 Dong. There is also the 4 xu Communist Party stamp. Frankfurt-Bebra train transit cancel and Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front. Unusual hand-made express mail label.

Registration Nr. 102480

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