Start of the Soviet Space Ship "Woschod"

North Vietnam, Start of the Soviet Space Ship “Woschod”, March 30th, 1965, Michel Nr. 359-360; The space theme was still very popular in the 1960’s and so two additional stamps with this topic were released on occasion of the start of the space ship “Woschod”. The nominals were 20 xu and 1 Dong. The stamps were released perforated (11.0) and imperforate.

Here is the mint perforated set:

Here is the mint imperforate set:

Mint imperforate set in blocks of four:

This is a one of a kind aquarelle drawn and signed by the stamp designer. Note that initially he proposed to feature the astronauts on the left side of the stamp but that postal authorities preferred them on the right side as seen in the final product. Very rare! The 12.5-17.5 cm drawing is fixed to a carton.

First Day Cover featuring the imperforate set.

Letter mailed to Klewitz in April of 1965 bearing the entire set. The postage amounted to 1.20 Dong which was slightly higher than the required tariff for a registered letter to West Germany (1.10 Dong).

First Day Cover featuring the imperforate set sent by registered letter to Klewitz in West Germany. Again, the cover is over-franked by 10 xu. Imperforate stamps on postally used cover are very rare.

Rare single franking of the 20xu value on a patriotic cover mailed to East Germany. The standard letter tariff to East germany was only 12 xu as of march 1st,1960 so this letter was either over-frankedor heavier than the standard allowance of 20g.

Are single franking of the 1D value on an international letter sent to Switzerland in August of 1973.

Letter from Xunhasaba mailed as “Printed Matter” in September of 1965 to a stamp dealer or collector. The letter carried a mixed franking including the 20xu Space Exploration stamp for an overall postage of 74 xu.

Letter from Xunhasaba, that likely contained a stamp shipment, from December of 1965. Franked with a single 1D Woschod Space stamp plus the 10xu Nghe An stamp for an overall postage of 1.10D.

Mixed franking of the 1D Woschod stamp together with two 12xu stamps National Liberation Front themes stamps from 1968 for an overall postage of 1.24D. The letter was addressed to Paris, France.

Mixed franking of the 1D Woschod stamp together with the 12xu Anniversary of the Revolution stamp for an overall postage of 1.12. The letter was mailed in December ion 1965 by Xunhasaba to a stamp dealer/collctor in Canada. Canada was a pretty rare destination in the mid 1960’s.

Mixed franking of the 8xu Lenin stamp together with the 10xu Nghe An and 1D Woschod stamp for an overall postage of 1.18D. The letter was routed from Hanoi to Paris, France and mailed in 1966.

Mixed franking of the red 12xu Five Year Plan stamp together with the 1D Woschod stamp for an overall postage of 1.12D on a letter sent to France.

Mixed franking of the 1 D Woschod value together with six Five Year Plan, World Union Conference and three Wild Animal stamps paying an overall postage of 1.78D on this rare registered letter sent from Gia-Loc (small post office) to Switzerland.