North Vietnam, Saturn V Apollo 4 Mission, 1967, Unlisted in catalogues; Below is a unique specimen of stationary with an “imprinted” stamp design of a 6 xu stamp honoring the 1967 Saturn V, Apollo 4 Mission of November 9th, 1967. It was the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle which was used by the U.S. Apollo Program to send the first astronauts to the moon. While the choice of the subject would on its face appear rather strange (the Apollo Program was underwritten by the United States if America) for a North Vietnamese stamp issue one has to understand the hoopla that space flight caused in the philatelic market at the time. A whole new philatelic topic had been discovered a few years earlier and so demanding for space themed stamps was very high. Economic considerations (i.e. sales of the stamp into the international market) may have prompted the North Vietnamese to request designs from Vietnamese stamp designers that resulted in this hand painted aquarelle. It showed the reentry vehicle just before impacting on the ocean surface. In the end it must have been rejected the proposal probably for political reasons as the stamp or envelope was never issued. Unique Item.
Registration Nr. 101501
Comments are closed.