North Vietnam, 30 Years Communist Party, January 6th, 1960, Michel Nr. 114-115; A set with two stamps was issued to celebrate the 30. anniversary of the Communist Party. The 2 xu value was intended as an extension value that allowed for easier completion of odd postage amounts. The 12 xu value covered the standard domestic letter rate. The stamps were perforated 11:0. Here is the official Xunhasaba stamp bulletin that released upon issuance of the set.

Here are mint blocks of four of both values. The symbols at the bottom of the selvage were intended to better line up the various printing stages.

The stamps were produced in panes of 100. On the position C1 (first stamp in the third row down) one can find a plate error that looks like a small yellow semi-circle under the sickle. As the two mint pairs below prove this is not a printing error by a small object falling on the plate but a true re-occuring plate error. Yet uncatalogued.

A similar error occurs on the 12 xu value. Here one can see a figure that looks like a slanted “0” at the top right of the sickle. Here present on the stamp to the right.

This set was not intentionally produced imperforated but rare trial prints on yellowish paper do exist that are imperforated. Below is such a set.

Postally used stamps are rare. Here is a First Day Cover that was actually postally mailed to the well known philatelist Theo Klewitz. A 6 xu stamp of the People Sports series was added to complete the a 20 xu postage to East Germany at the time. The standard letter rate to East Germany was 12 xu, so the letter may have been heavier than the standard 20 grams. “Cong Hoa Dan Chu Duc” stood for “East Germany” which duped the postal clerk as Fulda was actually situated in West Germany (50 xu standard letter rate). 

Rare single franking of the 12xu value on a letter to West Germany from May of 1960. The sender only indicated “Germanio” which left it unclear if that meant West or East Germany. The 12xu postage was sufficient for a letter to East Germany. Wanne-Eickel however was in West Germany, which would have required a 50xu postage but the postal clerk did not pick up on that as mail to Western countries was still pretty rare then.

Interesting mixed currency franking mailed in 1960 by Xuhasaba to England. England was still a rare destination at the time. The letter carries a 350D Ha Long stamp in Old Dong that was devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 and hence was only worth 35xu in 1960. A 2xu Communist Party stamp denominated in 2 new xu was added for an overall postage of 37xu. Red propaganda hand stamp in front.

Letter with a mixed franking of four 12xu stamps (including one of the Communist Party stamps) for an overall postage of 48xu sent in June of 1960 from Yen-Bai to East Germany. The letter was addressed to a fellow Vietnamese in a local engineering school. Unusual small post office cancel in Tran-Yen.

Here is a letter on which the 2 xu stamp is used as an extension value to complete the 20 xu postage for air mail letters to East Germany. The standard letter rate was 12 xu, so this letter may have been heavier than the standard 20 grams.Ex Klewitz.

Very rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in February of 1970 . The letter contains the entire im-perforated set of the Dien Bine Phu issue and two of the 2 xu stamps of the communist party issue. Im-perfroated stamps on postal used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 1.61 Dong. The standard letter rate to West Germany amounted to 50 xu, the registration fee to 60 xu and the express mail fee to 50 xu for a required postage of 1.60 Dong.

Registration Nr.100320

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