20. Anniversary of Founder's Day of Young Pioneers

North Vietnam, 20. Anniversary of Founder’s Day of Young Pioneers, May 2nd, 1961, Michel Nr. 160-161; Two stamps were issued in perforation 11:0. One with a nominal of 1 xu (extension value) and one with 12 xu (standard domestic letter rate). Again these stamps come wither on horizontally ribbed and vertically ribbed paper, depending on the direction the paper was fed into the printing machine. There is no difference in value.

Here is a mint set on horizontally ribbed paper:

Mint blocks of four on horizontally ribbed paper.

Here is the mint set on vertically ribbed paper

Occasionally print flaw are seen as here on the 1 xu stamp. The background of the right stamp has some color missing just below the “1” on this used pair.

Perforation errors do occur as on this 12 xu value which is imperforate at the bottom selvage.

Here is the same error but this time cancelled to order.

Here is a rare express mail letter (ex. Klewitz) that was also mailed registered. It bears twice the complete set for an overall postage of 1.78 Dong. Note the express mail numerical arrival hand stamp on the reverse.

Mixed currency franking between a service stamp and general public stamps on a letter from Hanoi to Sonneberg, East Germany. It is unclear why the sender was able to use a service stamp on his correspondence. . The 40D Land Reform service stamp had been devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 so it was only worth 4xu at the time of mailing. Together with the other NVN stamps in new currency the franking amounted to 12xu which was the correct tariff to East Germany at the time.

Air mail letter sent from Hanoi to East Germany in June of 1961. The letter was franked with the 12xu Gagarin stamp plus one 1xu Young Pioneer stamps for an overall postage of 13xu. This appears to be 1xu above the required tariff of 12xu that came in force as of March 1st, 1960.

Mixed franking of the orange 12xu stamp with other NVN stamps (including the 1xu Young Pioneers stamp) for an overall postage of 30xu to Congo, Africa. Congo was an extremely rare destination at the time.

Mixed franking using two of the 1xu Young Pioneer stamps, National Savings and Geological Research stamps for an overall postage of 12 xu, which was the correct postage to East Germany at the time.

Mixed franking of three 12xu stamps (including the 12xu Young Pioneer stamp) for an overall postage of 36xu on a letter sent to Hong Kong in August of 1975. The postage of the letter was apparently not sufficient so was assessed with a post due handstamp on front. It is unclear if the postage due was ever collected.

This is a registered letter mailed to Klewitz in June of 1961. It contains the complete set of the Young Pioneers set and a number of other 1961 North Vietnam postage stamps for an overall franking of 73 xu. This would appear to be insufficient postage as the standard letter rate to Western Europe amounted to 50 xu and the international registration fee was 60 xu, nevertheless the letter was registered and transported without any penalty. This was probably caused by the sender writing CHDC Due which stood for East Germany at the bottom of the address. The standard letter rate to East Germany was only 12 xu so an overall rate of 73 xu would have been sufficient to that country. Please note the stamp set commemorating the First Space Flight was used perforated and im-perforated. Im-perforated stamps on postally used covers are very rare.

Rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1978. It carries the HCM Museum set four times plus two of the 1 Xu Young Pioneer stamps for an overall postage of 4.90 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.

Another rare registered express mail letter mailed to Klewitz in August of 1978. The letter carries the other half of the perforated plus two of the 1 xu Pioneer stamps. The overall postage amounted to 4.04 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in September of 1980. It also carries a number of the Year of the Child stamps plus a 30 xu National Liberation Front (Vietcong) stamp. Due to the fact that NFL (Vietcong) stamps were based on the South Vietnamese Dong NFL stamps were not allowed as postage in North Vietnam. This is the reason why the postal clerk did not cancel the stamp. There is also the 1 xu Young Pioneer stamp. The overall postage of the letter (excluding the NFL stamp) amounted to 3.70 Dong.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in December of 1980. The letter carries two of the 1 Dong Day of the Child stamps plus two 6 xu Flower stamps (one with and one without the designer name). It also shows a 2 Dong Lenin National Liberation Front (Vietcong) issued in 1970. NLF stamps were denominated in South Vietnamese Dong and hence they were not valid for postage in North Vietnam. Nevertheless it appears that the postal clerk did not object to the invalid stamp. There is also the 1 xu Young Pioneer stamps. The overall postage amounted to 5.01 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Large registered envelope mailed from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in November of 1982. It carries a mass franking of the 50 xu stamp of the Day of the Child stamp. A large number of the stamps show a faulty printing of the red color. Error stamps on postally used cover are very rare. There are also twelve of the 1 Dong Soccer World Championship on the back. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered lettre sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in June of 1981. There is a single 50 xu KPdSU stamp plus the 1 Dong Young Pioneer stamp for an overall postage of 7.95 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.