South Vietnam, National Development and WHO overprinted with new 10D value, April 1st and April 25th, 1975, Michel Nr. 593-594; Shortly prior to the Fall of Saigon two additional overprinted stamps were prepared and issued. The 8D nominals of Michel Nr. SVN 535 and 542 were of little use as the domestic letter rate already stood at 25D and the 10D overprint was a much better match with the 15D nominals that were still around unused. The stamps were hence overprinted with a new value of 10D in red. Of course the City of Saigon was captured by the Viet Cong on April 30th, 1975 which meant that these stamps could only be used for 30 and 5 days respectively. After that they became invalid. Also the territory on which they could be used was rather limited as the Viet Cong already had control of most of the country. So far the editor has not been able to see or locate postally used versions of these stamps, let alone complete postal history. Technically both should exist, but given the limited time frame for use that was even possible they must be extremely rare in used condition.
Here is the mint set.
Mint blocks of four.
Registration Nr. 201540
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