250. Birthday of Hai Thu'o'ng Lan Ong

North Vietnam, 250. Birthday of Hai Thu’o’ng Lan Ong, July 1st, 1971, Michel Nr. 658-659; Two stamps in the nominals of 12 xu and 50 xu were issued perforated 12.5.

Here is the mint set:

Here is the mint set in blocks of four:

An usual sheet confection has become known on the 50xu value. The top row shows an unprinted field in stamp size . It also shows a passer-cross that was printed partially in the stamps design.

These stamps were not issued im-perforated but a handful of imperforate trial prints have come to market. Here is a im-perforated pair of the 12 xu stamp:

Interestingly the imperforate trial print of the 50 xu below did not yet have the printed frame color that the issued stamp would show:

Postcard sent in March of 1974 to Bulgaria using a single franking of the 50xu Hai Thu’o’ng stamp.

Here is the same franking but this time on a letters sent from Hanoi to Czechoslovakia. Hanoi machine cancel from July 14th, 1975.

Very rare registered express mail letter mailed to Klewitz featuring the set with matching corner selvage. The letter also bears the 30 xu im-perforated domestic bird set from 1966. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage of 1.66 Dong was just a tad above the required tariff for a standard 20 gram registered express mail letter to West Germany.

Mixed franking of two of the 50xu Thu’o’ng and other 1970’s NVN stamps together with the 2,000D Handicraft stamp from 1958 on a registered Xunhasaba mailing. The Handicraft stamp was denominated in Old Dong which were devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 and so was only worth 2 Dong at the time of mailing. The overall postage hence amounted to 3.38D.

Mixed franking of three 12xu Tay So’n stamps together with the 12xu Hai Thu’o’ng and the 3xu Communist Party stamps for an overall postage of 57xu on an air-mail letter from October of 1971 sent to East Germany.

Mixed franking of two of the black 12xu Aircraft Shot Down stamps plus one of the 50xu Hai Thu’o’ng stamp for an overall postage of 74xu on an air mail letter sent fromHanoi to Paris, France innAugust of 1972.

Mixed franking of a pair of the green 12xu Aircraft Shot Down value together with the 50xu value Hai Thu’o’ng stamp for an overall postage of 74xu sent to Paris, France in April of 1973.

Mixed franking of the 1 D Sojus 11 stamp together with the 50 xu Lan Ong stamp paying an overall postage of 1.50D on an international letter sent from Hai Phong to Switzerland in 1974.

Very rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in December,ber of 1975. It features the set plus some im-perforated stamps from the sculpture set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The over-all postage amounted to 3.66 Dong which appears to be in excess of the required tariff of 1.50 Dong for a standard 20 gram express mail letter to West Germany.

Air mail with a mixed franking sent to Paris, France in April of 1974. Postage of 74 xu which includes the 50 xu Hai Thu’o’ng Lan Ong stamp.

Exceedingly rare package wrapper from May of 1975. Most package wrappers were simply thrown out after the package was opened and hence very few of them survive today. The package was sent via registered mail from Hanoi to a clinic in East Germany and it featured a mixed franking of the 20xu October revolution stamp, the 50xu Hai Thu’o’ng stamp, the 2xu NLF stamp and the 6xu Production and Defense stamp for an overall postage of 78xu. The standard letter rate to East Germany was 12xu and the registration fee 60xu, so this package must have been very light. Red propaganda cachet on front.

Mixed franking sent by Xunhasaba in June of 1973 to Czechoslovakia. The letter carries the green 40xu Aircraft Shot Down stamp plus two of the 2xu NLF stamps and one 50xu Hai Thu’o’ng stamp for an overall postage of 94xu.