1946; North Vietnam (Viet Minh) Family Assistance $2.00 (Michel Nr. 27) on 15c*60c brown.
Overprint on Indochina Nr. 339. Rare complete sheet. The top right value carries a plate error in which the map of Vietnam is slightly enlarged. The plate error, which of course is also known on a partial printing of the original Indochinese stamp, is on the top right stamp in the sheet (Field Nr. 5) and it only occurs once in each double sheet.
According to J.Desrousseaux 40,000 stamps of the original stamps were overprinted by the Vet Minh. Each double sheet contains 2×50 stamps or 100 stamps total. That means only 400 of the error were produced and that is only if all sheets contained the error. However, the error is only known in a partial printing of Indochina Michel Nr. 339 so the actual number produced is likely much lower.How many of it survive today is unknown. The sheet is partially cancelled with a Hanoi cancel on the first day of issue, which makes it even scarcer, as cancelled high nominals of this series are much rarer than mint ones. The Michel catalogue value without the plate error for the sheetis already €1,250. The overprinted stamp with plate error is not listed or valued in the catalogue.
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