North Vietnam, 15.Anniversary of the start of war in Vietnam, December,mber 19th, 1961, Michel Nr. 190-191; Two stamps in the nominals of 4 xu and 12 xu were issued in perforation 11:0.

Hers is the mint set.

Here is a letter with the set sent to Klewitz in West Germany. The required postage for a standard air mail letter to that destination was actually 50 xu however, the sender duped the postal clerk into thinking that the letter was addressed to “East Germany” (RDA stands for East Germany) which only required a 12 xu postage. 

Rare single franking of the 12xu stamp from 1962 on a local letter to Thai Nguyen. Most local letters were lost in the decade long war, the difficult climate or recycling due to raw material shortages, hence every few of them survived.

Here is a similar franking of the 12xu stamp but this time used on a letter to East Germany. This nicely documents that the domestic letter rate and the letter rate to fellow socialist countries was identical.

Here is the only international letter the editor has ever seen which carries the weight lifter stamp stamp. It  also carries the 4 xu set of the start of the war and was mailed in late September, 1962 from Hanoi to Fulda, West Germany. It is actually under-franked for a registered letter to West Germany (Tariff of 1.1 Dong) but the clever sender wrote “RDA” at the bottom of the address which stood for “East Germany”. He therefore apparently duped the postal clerk into accepting the 12 xu rate to East Germany. Since the letter was mailed registered (registration cost 60 xu) the letter should have at least carried 72 xu but math may not have been the strength of the postal clerk. Only 70 xu were attached but no postage due was ever indicated. Extremely rare postal used letter with this iconic stamp.

Letter front with a mixed franking that includes a single of the 4 xu stamp of the start of the war issue. The letter was correctly franked with 12 xu (standard letter rate to a fellow socialist country) as it was directed to Czechoslovakia.

Mixed franking of the 5xu Hai Phong stamp, the 4xu Start of the War and the 3xu Five Year Plan stamp for an overall franking of 12xu paying the correct letter rate to Czechoslovakia in 1963.

Another mixed currency franking mailed as “Specimen/Printed Matter” to England in 1964 using two of the 100D Russian Revolution stamps denominated in old Dong (and worth only 20xu after the March 1st, 1959 devaluation), plus one 50xu Artist Congress and 4xu Start of the War stamp for an overall postage of 74xu.

Here is a letter mailed to Theo Klewitz in West Germany in April of 1964. It contains one 4 xu stamp of the start of the war set plus the rare im-perfroated set of the Wostok 5 and Wostok 6 group space flight. Im-perforated stamps on postally used covers are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 1.52 Dong. The standard letter rate for a 20 gram registered letter to West Germany was 1.1 Dong, so this letter must have been heavier than the standard.

Very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in May of 1975. The letter features two of the 4 xu values of the set plus a number of im-perforated stamps of the fish set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage on the letter amounted to 2.60 Dong which is above the Tariff of 2.10 Dong, but th heavier may have been heavier than the standard 20 grams.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in August of 1978. It features pairs of the entire set plus the 12 xu stamp of the begin of war series for an overall postage of 4.10 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on the front.

Another very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in October of 1977. The letter carries the remainder  of the im-perforated goat beetle set plus additional NVN stamps. There is also a block of four of the 12 xu start of the war stamp. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 4.50 Dong.Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda customs cachet on front.

Another very rare letter mailed to Klewitz in August of 1980. The letter features three of the 12 xu Einstein stamps, one being an error stamp without the black printing run. Errors stamps on postally used cover are very rare. There is also one 4 xu start of the war stamps. The overall postage amounted to 4.80 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in August of 1978. The letter carries the other half of the perforated set plus the 12 xu Start of the War stamp for an overall postage of 4.00 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Another rare registered express mail letter mailed to Klewitz in August of 1978. The letter carries the other half of the perforated plus the 4 xu Start of the War stamp. The overall postage amounted to 4.04 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Postcard sent in February of 1963 from Bac Chm to Italy bearing a single franking of the 4 xu stamp. The domestic postcard rate already stood at 6 xu as of March 1st, 1960 so, clearly, the 4xu were insufficient as postage. Nevertheless the postcard was transported without any comment.ü or postage due applied.

Registration Nr. 100655

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