National Liberation Front, Elections for the National Assembly, April 15th, 1976, Michel Nr. NLF 65-67; The first date in Michel (April 25th) appears to be wrong as there are First day Covers that are cancelled on April 15th. Ahead of the countries reunification on July 2nd, 1976 the NLF administration harmonized the currencies between South and North Vietnam. 500D of the old South Vietnamese Regime were exchanged for 1D of the North Vietnamese Government. Of course this only applied for stamps issued by the NLF, which remained valid. The stamps of the former South Vietnamese Regime became invalid immediately with the “Fall of Saigon” on April 30th, 1975. So the three stamps that were issued in nominals of 6xu (2) and 12xu were the first stamps in the new unified currency. Similar stamps but with a different country name and different color schemes were issued by North Vietnam (Michel Nr. 851-853).

Here is the mint set.

Here is the mint set in blocks of four.

Here is the cancelled to order set.

Here is a mint vertical pair on which the bottom stamp shows the plate error “partial missing background on top right”.

Detailed scan of the affected area.

First Day Cover featuring the set cancelled with a special red cancel from Aril 15th, 1976. This exact cancel is also featured in Ta Phi Long’s book “Some Features of postal History in the period of revolutionary South Vietnam”, which supports the first date of issue as explained above.

On the day of the elections, a special cachet cancel dated April 25th, 1976, was used to cancel some of these stamps. Here is one such cover featuring the red 6xu stamp.

Interesting mixed currency franking between the NLF Dong and the North Vietnamese Dong. The 300D NLF stamp was devalued by 500:1 in April of 1976 so it was only worth 0.6 new Dong at the time of mailing. Together with the NLF stamps in new Dong the overall postage hence amounted to .084 new Dong on this letter sent to Hong Kong.

Single franking of the red 6xu value on a letter sent from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Nam Dinh (South of Hanoi) and mailed on August 25th, 1976. The standard letter rate for national letters was 12xu so the 6xu franking would appear to be insufficient. However, no postage due markings were made. This is most likely a clerical error. Fragment of transit/arrival cancel on the reverse.

Here is another cover (full contents preserved) where the franking is a bit of a puzzle. The letter was mailed in July of 1976 from Ho Chi Minh City to Dien Ban close to Da Nang. Normally this long distance letter should have cost 12xu but here only one 6xu stamp was affixed. Again, no postage due markings were made.

Single franking of the red 6xu value on a letter mailed within Ho Chi Minh City on December 17th, 1976. Here the 50% discounted intra-city rate of 6xu made sense. 

Singe franking of the 6xu stamp mailed within Ho ChiMinh City on February 15th, 1977 using the 50% discounted scarce intracity rate. “Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh” cancel.

Here is the same intra-city franking also mailed within Ho Chi Minh City but this time cancelled with the “Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh” machine cancel from September 13th, 1976.

The 6xu intra-city rate also included suburbs as seen here. Mailing from Each Gia just outside HCM City from July, 1975.

Quan 1 was the new postal designation for Ho Chi Minh City. Intracity mailing using the 50% discounted 6xu tariff on a letter to Quan 11 (suburb). Black box cachet “They Trong Hop Thu” (=”see in mailbox”). Newly introduced T.P.Ho Chi Minh 2″ cancel with the 10000 zip code at the bottom. These cancels appeared first in the fall of 1977.

Another intra-city mailing paying the 50% discounted rate of 6xu cancelled with an unusual Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh cancel with the insert of”Tranh Dao” on top. Mailed on May 21st, 1976.

Letter sent from Dong Nai to Quang Trung (both suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City) using the 50% discounted intra-city rate. The stamp has an unusual machine cancel on which Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh and Viet Nam on the left, respective the right side of the cancel.

Letter sent from Vinh Long in October 1976 to Ho Chi Minh City. While Vinh Long was located in the Mekong Delta just South West of HCM City it apparently also enjoyed the 50% reduced intra-city tariff. The letter is cancelled with a M.N. date canceller that omits the year. Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh II machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Letter sent by a member of the military (note the Hom Thu number in the sender field) from Xuan Loc (small post office) to Ho Chi Minh City. Manuscript “T” in blue which may indicate “postage due”. Xuan Loc is located West of HCM City but may have been outside the zone that was still covered by the intra-city tariff. HCM City arrival cancels on the reverse.

This letter is a bit of a puzzle. It was sent inside Ho Chi Minh City which normally would have qualified for the 50% discounted intra-city tariff but the letter was still struck with two black “T” hand stamps that indicated “postage due”. The Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh cancel of November 1st is unusual in that it shows no year. This may just represent an error on part of the postal clerk.

Rare multiple franking of the 6xu value paying the standard 12xu letter rate on a letter sent to Ho Chi Minh City sent in July of 1978. HCM City machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Another rare multiple franking of the 6xu value paying the standard letter rate of 12xu on a letter sent from Tay Ninh to Ho Chi Minh City in June of 1977. HCM City arrival cancel on the reverse.

Interesting mixed franking of the 6xu National Election stamp together with a military free frank from 1976 paying the equivalent of 18xu on a military letter from March of 1977. Hanoi 10 KT3 (military?) transit cancel and Hanoi standard circular date transit canceller on the reverse.

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.

Single franking of the 12xu value on a letter sent from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on December 21st, 1976. Since this NLF stamp was already designated in the new unified currency that was used after reunification it was legal to use it from the North to the South. Stamps in the NLF currency however, could only be used in the South. Because the Mien Nam stamps were only sold in the South such frankings are rare.

Single franking of the 12xu value paying the standard letter rate and sent from Kom Tu to Ho Chi Minh City on May 20th, 1977. Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh City arrival cancel on the reverse.

Single franking of the 12xu value paying the standard letter rate and sent fromHo Chi Minh City to Ban Tre on July 1st, 1977. Ben Tre arrival cancel on the reverse.

Mixed franking of the 6xu Election and 12xu National Assembly stamps paying an 18xu rate that most likely represented the standard letter rate in March of 1977 (raised from the previous 12xu tariff). The letter was mailed from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

Mixed franking of a NLF 12xu stamp together with a 20xu Communist Party stamp from unified Vietnam paying an overall rate of 32xu on a register letter sent from Vinh Long to Gia Dinh in April of 1977. Local registered letters were still pretty scarce at that time.

Mixed currency franking of NLF Dong stamps (310D) and unified currency stamps (18xu) on an air mail letter sent from Colon to the United States in 1976. The letter was cancelled with the special cancel produced for the national election of the new assembly. The NLF Dong was devalued by 500:1 on April 1st, 1976 which meant the two stamps in old currency were only worth 0.62D in new currency. Together with the two stamps in new currency the overall postage hence amounted to 0.80 new Dong.

Registration Nr. 200021

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