5. Congress of the World Union Association

North Vietnam, 5. Congress of the World Union Association, December 4th, 1961, Michel Nr. 189; A single stamp was issued in the nominal of 12 xu (standard domestic letter rate). Perforation 11:0. Here is the official Xunhasaba stamp bulletin that announced the issuance of this stamp.

Mint stamp

Perforation errors do occur. Here is a stamp that was left imperforate at the top and bottom.

Rare single franking of this stamp on a letter from Hanoi to East Germany from February of 1962. As of March 1st, 1960 the tariff for the standard letter rate to fellow socialist countries equalled the inland letter rate of 12 xu.

Spectacular multiple franking of this stamp on a letter sent to Klewitz in February of 1970. Express letters from North Vietnam are pretty rare. This one was registered (60 xu surcharge) and sent to West Germany (50 xu standard letter rate). The exact amount of express surcharge is unknown. Overall postage 1.72 Dong which appears to be quite tariff conform.

First Day Cover of the complete Crop Plant set sent on Mach 1st to Klewitz in West Germany. A single 12 xu stamp of the Union Congress was added for an overall postage of 74 xu. This would have been insufficient for a registered letter to West Germany 1.1 Dong) but the clever sender wrote “RDA” at the bottom of the address which stood for “East Germany”. The standard letter tate to East Germany, a fellow socialist country, was only 12 xu so by adding the 60 xu international registration fee the required postage came to 72 xu.

Here is a rare letter featuring the entire im-perforated reptile set and two of the congress stamps on an express mail cover to Klewitz from November of 1966. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The letter has an overall franking of 1.32 Dong which covered the standard letter rate of 50 xu plus the express mail fee of 50 xu. Given the higher postage ad the fact that Klewitz rarely ever wasted any postage, the letter must have exceeded the 20 gram base tariff.

Rare registered express mail letter sent from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz in September of 1980. The letter carries the entire perforated Intercosmo set plus one of the World Union stamps for an overall postage of 4.45 Dong. The zero money red free frank was required to produce the R-label as it came out of the same machine. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.