Group Space Flight Wostock III and IV

North Vietnam, Group Space Flight Wostock III and IV, December 28th, 1962, Michel Nr. 240-242; Soviet accomplishments, a fellow communist state, was still a great source of pride for North Vietnam. Therefore another stamp set was issued with three nominals (12 xu, 20 xu and 30 xu). The set was intentionally released perforated (11:0) and im-perforated. Also, similar to previous issues, this set comes on two differently ribbed papers (horizontally or vertically) depending on how the paper was fed into the printing machine. Below is the official Xunhasaba stamp bulletin that announces the release of the set. Note that the im-perfroated set was only produced in 30,000 sets.

Here is the mint perforated set on horizontally ribbed paper:

Here is the mint perforated set on vertically ribbed paper:

This is the imperforate set on horizontally ribbed paper:

and the imperforate set on vertically ribbed paper:

Cancelled to order blocks of four of the set (12xu horizontal and other values vertical ribbed paper):

First Day Cover sent postally to Theo Klewitz. The franking of 62 xu was a bit excessive as the air mail rate to West Germany (abbreviated: BRD) was only 50 xu.

Letter with the complete set sent in January of 1963 to Theo Klewitz in West Germany that features the entire set. The overall franking of 74 xu would have been insufficient for a registered letter to West Germany (Tariff of 1.1 Dong) but the clever sender duped the postal clerk into thinking it was addressed to East Germany (CHDC Duc) which only required 12 xu for the letter and 60 xu for the international registration. So, in the eyes of the clerk the letter was actually overfranked by 2 xu.

Xunhasaba stamp bulletin mailing announcing the release of the set featuring a mixed franking of the 30xu value, the 50xu Animal stamp plus the 2xu Crop Plant stamp for an overall postage of 82xu. The bulletin was sent to West Germany still a rare destination in December of 1962.