North Vietnam, For Military Personell 1971, October 30th, 1971; Three stamps all without a nominal amount were issued in perforation 11.0. The stamps were produced by Tien Bo Printing House in sheets of 100 stamps. Michel reports that the stamp depicting Nguyen Van Be was issued on February 12th, 1970 and the other two stamps depicting Nguyen Viet Xuan in 1971/1972 but this appears to be incorrect. The joint issue date of October 30th, 1971 is from the official Vietnamese Postage Stamp Catalogue and hence has therefore more credibility. Nguyen Van Be was known as the “tank cracker”. The stamp shows him holding a land mine over his head before he is throwing it towards a tank. He died only 20 years old in 1965.
Here are the mint stamps
Mint blocks of four.
These stamps were not officially released imperforate however a very small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Here are two of them, the first one, in slightly different colors from the finally issued stamp. Rare!
This stamp set saw very little postal use. So most cancelled specimen are cancelled to order as distributed by Xunhasaba.
Local letter sent from Nam-Dinh. Hanoi arrival cancel without year on the reverse. Patriotic helicopter shoot-down motive on the left.
Local letter sent between two military units (Hom Thu 201.217 JA01 and 680.589 JEH2). Unidentifiable machine cancel on front and transit/arrival cancel fragments on the reverse.
Local letter sent within Ho Chi Minh City. Unusual red cancel from December of 1981.
Rare international letter sent to a fellow Vietnamese located in East Germany sent from Hanoi to Halle in East Germany in February of 1972. Free Franks were not valid for international postage as they lacked a nominal value and were handed out free of charge. As a result the cover received a “T” (=postage due= hand stamp. It is not clear of the postage due was actually collected in East Germany.
Local letter sent by a member of the military (Hom Thu 202.404 TB03) to Hui Tay in October of 1974.
Local letter sent in-between two military units (note th Hom Thu numbers in sender and address line). Hanoi P.T. cancels from September, 1973.
Local letter sent by a member of the military to another military unit (Hom Thu 681.683 JB05) to 833.383 TC90. Hanoi machine cancel from June of 1973.
Local letter sent from Hanoi to occupied South Vietnam (National Liberation Front) shortly after the fall of Saigon. The letter was addressed to Phon Thiet in Military Zone 6. (ex Cartafalsa).
Local letter sent by a member of the military (Hom Thu 81.935 JC12) to Hanoi.
Local letter sent between two military posts (Hom Thu 201.304.JcI4 -740.431 TM01) in August of 1974.
Local letter sent by a member of the military (note the Hom Thu number in th sender line) from Ha Bac to Liang Giang. Lian Giang arrival cancels the reverse.
Here is a letter that should not exist. It was mailed in August of 1981 from Da Lat to Klewitz in West Germany and it carries four different military free franks. Since free franks without nominals were not valid for international postage the letter should have received a “T” hand-stamp indicating that postage was due. Apparently none of that happened here and the letter was delivered without any remarks indicating that the postal clerk simply did not notice or care.
Rare NVA Travel pass issued for August 23rd, 1972 and for Hanoi indicates how tight people’s movements were curtailed until the end of the war (ex Munshower).
Registration Nr. 101961
Comments are closed.