North Vietnam, 35 Years Communist Party of Indochina, February 3rd, 1965, Michel Nr. 347-353; A total of seven stamps were issued. Five with a 6 xu nominal and two with a 12 xu nominal. The stamps were perforated 11.0. The stamps (6 xu nominal and 12 xu nominal in separate sheets) were printed attached to each other within the sheet.
Here is a mint strip of five of the 6 xu nominals perforated
Interestingly enough one of the communist party official honored in the set, Ngô Gia Tự, was in fact mistakenly depicted as a Vietnamese spy that was cooperating with the CIA (as per Thierry Wiart’s article in the SICP Journal Nr. 224 from September 2016). This error was not discovered until 1999 when the stamp was officially withdrawn and all remaining stamps were destroyed. So sometimes you see the one stamp blocked out if the seller is Vietnamese. Clearly, it is not politically correct to show the face of a disgraced spy on a Vietnamese stamp even today. Wiart also reports that a new printing of the strip was produced after 1999 that only showed four of the five stamps featuring communist party officials.
Here is a pair of the two 12 xu values. These stamps were printed together in the same sheet.
The stamps were not released imperforate but a handful of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Below is a rare im-perforated strip of the 6 xu values. Rare!
Very rare zincotype of one of the 6 xu values on blue cardboard paper. This is trial printing directly of the newly manufactured zinc plate.
This is a unique large aquarelle drawing of the second 12 xu value attached to a card board (13 cm x 18.5 cm) and signed by the stamp designer (ex Duering). One of a kind!
Very rare local letter (full contents preserved) featuring one of the 12xu stamps from the set on a mailing from Yen Thanh (small post office) to Hanoi in February of 1965. Most local letters were destroyed in the multi-decadal war, the tropical climate or recycling due to raw material shortages.
Registered letter sent to Klewitz in February of 1965. It contains the entire set in front plus some other North Vietnamese stamps on the reverse. The overall franking amounts to 1.14 Dong which is just a whisker above the required tariff of 1.10 Dong for a standard registered letter of 20 grams.
Mixed franking of one of the 6xu values together with the 50xu Domestic Wildlife stamp for an overall postage of 56xu. The required standard letter rate to Western countries was 50xu as of March 1st, 1960 but the tariff for letters to Eastern (socialist) countries) was only 12xu.It appears the sender was not aware of this.
Registration Nr. 101020
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