Shoot-Down of the 1,500th U.S.Aircraft over North Vietnam

North Vietnam, Shoot-Down of the 1,500th U.S.Aircraft over North Vietnam, October 14th, 1966, Michel Nr. 450-451; A single stamp with a 12 xu nominal was issued in perforation 11.0.

Here is the mint perforated stamp:

Rare mint block of four:

Cancelled to order stamp:

The stamp was not officially released imperforate, however a handful of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Very rare!

Four days after the stamp had been released by the post office the stated purpose featured on the stamp apparently had taken place. According to the Vietnamese Postage Stamp Catalogue on October 18th, 1966 North Vietnam therefore over-printed all the stamps that had not been delivered yet to the post offices with the date October 14th, 1966. This makes the un-overprinted stamp much scarcer than the over-printed one. Catalogue makers have not caught on to that fact and are regularly valuing the overprinted stamp higher than the un-overprinted one.

Mint block of four:

Cancelled to order stamp:

Again, the over-printed stamp was not officially issued imperforate, however a handful of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Rare!

Postcard with a photo of To-Na depicting a downed U.S. aircraft.

Very rare single franking of the overprinted stamp on a domestic letter (full contents preserved) sent from Yen Mo to a Viet Cong military unit in Da Lat. Da Lat was located in the Southern part of the country and hence enemy territory for the Viet Cong. The letter therefore represents a very scarce North to South transmission. The letter was carried by courier on the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and then hand delivered. Most “Trail Mail Letters” do not carry any postage stamps or they have been removed.

Registered letter mailed on October 20th, 1966 to Klewitz featuring one of the un-overprinted stamps. The overall postage amounted to 1.13 Dong which was a tad above the required tariff of 1.10 Dong for a standard letter to West Germany.

Rare registered express mail letter mailed to Klewitz in August of 1974 featuring both versions of the stamp with corner margins. The overall postage amounted to 2.48 Dong which may have been too high given that a standard 20 gram registered express mail letter to West Germany only cost 1.60 Dong. However, Klewitz often got stamp shipments from his contact in Vietnam, so the letter may have simply exceeded the standard 20 grams. Red Fulda arrival hand stamp in front and Fulda arrival date canceler on the reverse.

Rare express mail letter mailed to Klewitz in November 1967 featuring two of the un-overprinted and one of the overprinted stamps. Interestingly, the sender used the blue military stamp without nominal that was also issued in 1966 but was only approved for domestic military use. The blue military stamp on postally used cover is very rare. Adding the inherent 12 xu value of this stamp the overall franking amounted to 1.53 Dong.

Very rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz of June 1977. The letter carries one of the un-oberprinted 12 xu stamps and the im-perforated version of the 40 xu stamps of the later shoot-down series on glossy newsprint paper. Im-perforated stamps, especially trial prints, on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 2.87 Dong which most certainly was in excess of the required tariff of 1.00 Dong for a standard express mail letter to West Germany.