200. Birthday of Nguyen Du

North Vietnam, 200. Birthday of Nguyen Du, November 25th, 1965, Michel Nr. 412-415; Four stamps with the nominals of 12 xu (two stamps), 20 xu and 1 Dong were issued perforated 11.0.

Mint blocks of four:

These stamps were not officially released imperforate however a small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to the market. Here is one of them.

Registered letter with the complete set mailed to Klewitz in December of 1965. The overall franking amounts to 1.48 Dong which means it is likely over-franked. The required registered standard letter rate to West Germany was 1.10 Dong.

Rare single franking of one of the 12xu values on a letter to Budapest, Hungary paying the correct tariff in force at the time.

Rare single franking of one of the 12xu stamps on a letter to East Germany.

Single franking of the 12 xu stamp on an international air mail letter sent from Hanoi to an Art School in East Germany.

Very rare single franking of one of the 12xu values on a homemade local letter mailed in 1971. This letter is the earliest evidence of the zip-code cancels that were introduced most in the late 1970’s. This cancel from 1971 indicates that in some towns the introduction of these type of cancels happened much earlier. Most local letters were destroyed during the multi-decadal war, the tropical climate or recycling due to raw material shortages.

Spectacular multiple franking of the Nguyen 12C stamp paying an overall postage of 84C on a commercial letter sent in January of 1968 from Hanoi to East Berlin”s television station.

Rare single franking of the 1D value of the set on an air-mail letter from Hanoi to East Berlin, East Germany mailed March of 1978. The postage for a standard international letter was raised to 1Dong as of December 1st, 1976 so the postage was in fact correct.

Here is the same franking of the 1D value but this time on a letter to Czechoslovakia. This indicates that the distincton between Eastern and Western postal rates was abolished in December of 1976.

Mixed franking of the 1D and 20xu stamp for an overall postage of 1.20D on a letter from Hanoi to Paris, France.

Mixed franking of two of the 30xu GANFO stamps together with the 20xu value of the Nguyen Du set for an overall franking of 70xu on an air mail letter to Paris, France in March of 1973.

Here is a similar letter from the same correspondence but this time featuring the 20 xu Nguyen Du stamp and two of the 30xu Missile Launch stamps for an overall postage of 80 xu.

Mixed franking of two of the 30xu Production and Struggle stamps plus the 20 xu Nguyen Du stamp on an air mail letter sent from Hai-Phong to France in February of 1970.

Air mail letter mailed in March of 1970 to the Socialist Worker Youth in Hamburg, Germany. It is franked with the 10xu Nghe An stamp plus the 1D Nguyen Du for an overall postage of 1.1D.

Mixed franking of the 1D Nguyen Du value together with the 12 xu Flower stamp from 1964 for an overall postage of 1.12D on a Xunhasaba letter sent to San Francisco, USA. Despite being at war with each other apparently the mail between the two countries did not impinge on mail delivery.

Mixed franking of the 1d value of the Nguyen Du set together with the 50xu Bamboo stamp and 12xu National Liberation Front stamp for an overall postage of 1.62D.

Registered letter by Xunhasaba to Klewitz mailed in April, 1969 bearing one of the 1 Dong stamps. Xunhasaba was the official retailer for North Vietnamese stamp marketing to collectors. Since the letter was sent registered it most likely contained a stamp delivery that Klewitz had ordered. The overall franking was 1.60 Dong which means it was heavier than the standard 20 gram letter (that would have cost only 1.10 Dong).

Mixed currency franking using the 2,000D Handicraft stamp that was still denominated in Old Dong (which were devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 and hence only worth 2D at the time of mailing) plus a range of other NVN stamps for a postage of 3.28D. Canada was still a rare destination in the mid 1960’s.

Mixed franking of two of the 1D value plus a 20xu Communist Party stamp for an overall postage of 2.20D sent by the Vietnamese National textile Company. The basic letter rate amounted to 1D plus 60xu for registration fee, so this letter must have been heavier than the standard 20g.

Rare printed matter mailing sent by the National Mineral Import and Export Company to Merck, the pharmaceutical company in West Germany. It carried the 1D value plus a 10xu stamp from the Nghe An series. The envelope must have been pretty heavy to warrant the 1.10D in postage.

Air mail letter sent from Hanoi to a State owned company in East Germany from November of 1965. The letter carries a mixed franking (including the 20xu Nguyen-Du stamp) for an overall postage of 38xu. Since the standard letter rate to East germany in 1965 was only 12xu (up to 20g) this letter must have been heavier than the standard.

Mixed franking of the 20xu Nguyen Du stamp plus one of the 5xu Sport stamp for an overall postage of 25xu. The letter was most likely of the second weight level as the standard rate for up to 20g amounted to only 12xu.

Rare registered express mail letter from June of 1968 mailed to Klewitz carrying one of the 1 Dong stamps. The overall franking amounted to 1.92 Dong. The required tariff for standard 20 gram letter was only 1.60 Dong so it was likely a bit heavier than that.

Here is a rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in June of 1969. It features three values of the set. It also shows an im-perforated block of four of the 12 xu flower series from 1962. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 1.86 Dong which was in excess of the required postage for a standard express mail letter to West Germany (Tariff of 1.00). The initial plan was to send the letter registered (Tariff of 1.60 Dong).

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in October of 1981. It features the Women Union set plus one 12 xu Nguyen Du stamp for an overall postage of 8.78 Dong (including the red free frank of 5.90 Dong). There is also a 2 xu Lotu stamp with the post master perforation of 9.5. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Very rare air mail letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in January of 1982. The letter carries half of the im-perforated Cat set plus one 1 Dong Nguyen Du stamp for an overall postage of 2.72 Dong. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The cancel shows an error as the the “2” in “82 was inserted upside-down.

Mixed franking from July, 1966 on what looks like a man mailing from Hanoi to Munich, West Germany. The letter carries the 50xu Space Conquest stamp plus other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 1.94D.