Bay of Ha Long

North Vietnam, Bay of Ha Long, February, 1959, Michel Nr. 92-93; Ha Long Bay is one of the prettiest coastal strips in Northern Vietnam. It consist of thousands of small karst stone islands and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two values in the nominals of 150 Dong and 350 were issued in perforation 12.0. Michel reports that the stamps were also released im-perforated by the Hungarian printing company but that postal authorities declared those unofficially released stamps invalid for postal use.

Here is the mint perforated set

Mint blocks of four:

Here is the mint imperforate set

Cancelled to order block of four of the 150D value

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.

Here is an interesting mixed currency franking mailed to Klewitz in 1965. The Bay of Ha Long stamps from 1959 were devalued 1,000:1 which meant the nominal of 500 Old Dong was now worth 0.50 New Dong or 50 xu. The overall franking hence came to 1.12 Dong. This was just a whisker above the required tariff for a registered letter to West Germany of 1.10 Dong. Note that the 350D stamp shows the plate error of “comma like shape to the left of the sail of the large junk”.

Xunahasaba bulletin announcing the publication of the Pagoda set franked with one of the 12 xu stamps plus two of the Ha Long stamps still denominated in Old Dong. The 700 Old Dong were only worth 70 xu after the devaluation of March 1st, 1959 so the overall franking amounts to 82xu. The United States was a pretty rare destination in 1960.

Mixed franking sent by Xunhasaba to a client in London, England. England was still a rarer destination in the early 1960’s. The letter features two of the Ha Long stamps and the Handicraft Exhibition in Old Dong (devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959) worth only 1.7 New Dong. Together with the stamps in new currency the overall postage amounted to 1.78D. Red propaganda cachet on front.

Xunhasaba letter with mixed currency franking mailed to England in January of 1961. England was still a rare destination at the time. The letter carries the 30xu Fruit stamp plus the 350D Ha Long stamp that was still denominated in Old Dong. The old stamps were devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 which meant that the overall postage of the letter amounted to 65xu.

Mixed franking of the 30xu Domestic Craft stamp together with 12xu 1st Five Year Plan and 150D Bay of Ha Long stamp that was still denominated in Old Dong. The latter was devalued by 1,000:1 which means it was only worth 15xu at the time of mailing. The overall postage amounted to 57xu in a mixed currency franking. The standard air mail rate to Western countries like Denmark was only 50xu so the letter was over-franked by 7xu.