Residences of President Ho Chi Minh

North Vietnam, Residences of President Ho Chi Minh, May 19th, 1972, Michel Nr. 695-696; Two values both with a 12 xu nominal were issued in perforation 11.0.

Here is the mint set:

Mint blocks of four:

Postcard featuring HO Chi Minh’s house in 1954.

Postcard showing Ho Chi Minh City in front of his wooden house on the presidential palace in Hanoi in 1960.

These stamps were not officially released im-perforated however a handful of imperforate trial prints have come to market. Note the printer guiding marks surrounding the stamps:

Very rare single franking of the yellow 12 xu stamp on a local letter (full contents provided) sent from Ha Dong to Hanoi in October, 1972. Most local letters were destroyed in the multi-decadal war, the tropical climate or recycling due to raw material shortages.

Rare single franking of one of the 12 xu values on a letter sent in September of 1972 from Hanoi to Karl Marx Stadt in East Germany. As of March 1st, 1960 the standard domestic letter rate of 12 xu became identical to the late rate to fellow socialist countries.

Mixed franking of the yellow 12xu HCM Residences stamps together with the 50xu Satellite stamp for an overall postage of 74xu on an air-mail letter setoff form Hanoi to Paris, France in July of 1972.

Mixed franking of two of the yellow 12 xu stamp plus the 50 xu Engels stamp paying an overall postage of 74 xu on an international air mail letter sent rom Hai Phong to Switzerland.

Rare single franking of the pink 12 xu stamp on a letter sent to China. This shows that the domestic letter rate and the international letter rate to fellow socialist countries was identical. Chinese arrival cancel on the reverse.

Rare single franking of the pink 12xu stamp on a letter sent to Jena in East Germany in January of 1973.

Very rare letter featuring the entire set plus im-perforated stamps of the Luna 9 and poisonous snake series sent to Klewitz in September of 1973. Imperforate stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage amounted to 1.99 Dong which was probably in excess of the required tariff of 1.00 Dong for a standard express mail letter to West Germany. It was initially signed to be sent by registered mail (Tariff of 1.60 Dong) but that did not take place. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse.