Elections to the National Assembly

North Vietnam, Elections to the National Assembly, April 15th and 24th, 1976, Michel Nr. 851-853; Three stamps with the nominals of 6 xu (two stamps) and 12 xu were issued perforated 11.0.

Here is the mint set:

These stamps were not officially issued im-perforated but a small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Below are pairs of these trial proofs:

The first 6 xu issue is particularly likely to show some color off-set on the back of the stamps. These so called “color kisses” wer caused by stacking sheets with still wt color on top of each other.

Mint block of six 6 xu stamps on which the top right stamp shows the plate error “short foot of E in VIETNAM”. Also note, that three of the stamps show a round object towards the left of “6”. This was likely copied over in the cliche’ copying process and must have been present in one of the original cliche’s.

Detailed scan of the affected area

Here is an example of the voter registration cards that were issued for the election of the National Assembly in 1976.

Mixed ranking using the 6 xu National Assembly stamp plus the 10 xu Communist Party stamp paying an unusual 16 xu tariff in January of 1977. Hanoi arrival cancel on the reverse (full contents preserved).

Single franking of the 12xu value on a letter from Quang Minh to Cholon sent in December of 1976. Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh machine transit cancel on the reverse.

Single franking of the 12xu value paying the standard letter rate on a letter sent from Hanoi to Saigon on April 22nd, 1976. Hanoi machine cancel. Thanh Pho Ho Ch Minh City machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Letter (contents preserved) sent from Hanoi (bizarre Hanoi machine cancel with garbled date setting) sent to a member of the military (note the Hom Thu number in the address line). Military arrival cancel o the reverse.

Letter (full content preserved) to the same military recipient sent from Tien Phong to Hom Thu 680 851JII21 on May 13th, 1976. Hai Phong transit cancel on the reverse.

Mixed franking of the 20xu Butterfly stamp together with a 12xu National Assembly stamp paying an overall postage of 32xu on a registered letter. The letter was sent in April of 1976 from Hanoi to a member of the Vietnamese Armed Forces (Note the Hom Th number in the address line). The standard domestic postage amounted 12xu and the registration fee to 24xu so this letter was actually under-franked by 4xu.

Local letter sent from Lam Dong to Bien Hoa in February of 1977 using the green 12 xu stamp lying the domestic letter rate at the time (full contents preserved).

Another local letter sent in December of 1976 from Bien Hoa to Lam Dong and using the green 12 xu stamp paying the domestic letter rate in force at the time. Red propaganda hand stamp “We heartily greet the 4th Party Convention”. HCM City machine transit cancel on the reverse (full content preserved).

Rare express mail letter sent to Klewitz in March of 1977. It features the entire set plus some im-perforated reptile series stamps. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage of the letter amounted to 1.66 Dong which appears to be below the prevailing tariff at the time (1.00 Dong base rate, 60 xu international registration charge, 50 xu express mail charge and 40 xu air mail fee for 5 grams), however it was transported without charging any postage due. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in May of 1977. The letter carries the dragon fly set from 1977 plus some of the national election issues. The overall postage amounted to 3.52 Dong Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.

Rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in August of 1978. It carries one of the 6 xu red stamps plus a range of other contemporary NVN stamps for an overall postage of 4.40 Dong. Interesting Basel-Frankfurt rail transit cancel and Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Another very rare registered express mail letter sent to Klewitz in September of 1978. The letter caries the other half of the im-perforated Sport Games set plus the National Assembly set. Im-perforated stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 3.56 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.