Once in a while, one will see a set of cinderellas that are made to look like an official stamp set from North Vietnam on offer. The new country name (Dan-Chu-Cong-Hoa) as well as Buu Chin, which means post office is displayed on them plus a portrait of Ho ChiMinh in front of the flag of the Soviet Union. “Chu-Tich” means legend, so clearly the set purported on its face to be a homage to the famous leader. The set is often offered with the attributes of “un-issued” and “rare” but do not fall for it. Sometimes the set is accompanied with the lore that the “stamps” were produced for Ho Chi Minh’s delegation so that it could finance its trip and stay at the Geneva Convention in 1954. This, of course, is just a fable. Ho Chi Minh was already head of state since 1946 and official stamps with his portrait had already been issued by postal authorities in Vietnam in that year. So, clearly, if HCM wanted another official set issued for philatelic purposes he could have just ordered his Government to do so. Another give-away are the very low nominals of the cinderellas. When they were produced the official domestic standard letter was already 5,000 times higher than the average nominal (Desrousseaux, SICP Journal Nr. 82, March/April 1987). Also, as Klewitz pointed out in his publication “Handbuch der Briefmarkenkunde from 1955, the term “Buu Chin” (Post Office) was no longer used on North Vietnamese stamps after 1948. Instead the term “Bu Dien” (Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration) was used instead. Klewitz also communicated in the 1950’s already with high cadres of the North Vietnamese regime. In the SICP Journal Nr. 83 of May/June of 1987 he is cited with the following statement: “I can tell you the following. When I received these stamps, perforated and imperforate as well, maybe 30 years ago from the dealer, I sent one series to my correspondent in Vietnam because I would have had him use these on an envelope.But my correspondent told me that these labels were no legal postage stamps but propaganda labels against Ho Chi Minh, because of the Russian flag which is to be seen on these labels. Maybe they were printed and brought on the market from a counter-revolutionary group which would not agree on Ho Chi Minh as the first president. I think this story is true, because my then correspondent was living together with his government in the jungle. From him I received all the information which I published in my book (Handbuch der Briefmarkenkunde 1955, Remark of the Editor). It’s a pity, but he died some years ago.” (11 March 1987).
The cinderellas, that come perforated and imperforated, were a private production made for political purposes or simply to defraud stamp collectors. Needless to say the cinderella’s do not appear in the official Vietnamese Postage Stamp Catalogue 1945-2005.
Registration Nr. 100021
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