Unified Vietnam, 450. Death Anniversary of Correggio, November 30th, 1984, Michel Nr. 1505-1511; Seven stamps with nominals of 50xu (two stamps), 1D, 2D, 3D, 5D and 6D and one souvenir-sheet with a 10D nominal were issued in perforation 12.75 and imperforate. Klewitz reported in the SICP Journal Nr. 91 from September/October 1988 that because the stamps depicted religious scenes the stamps were only used for a very short time in Vietnam. They were also not available at all Vietnamese post offices. He also reported that he could not obtain the imperforate set in mint conditions but speculated that technically they should be available. Clearly, the perforated set must have been released in late 1984 as the letters from February of 1985 to Klewitz that bear these stamps clearly show. It is, of course, possible that the stamps were withdrawn after a short period of use due to the religious depictions. At any rate, the nominals of these stamps does fit into the year 1984. The Vietnamese Postage Stamp Catalogue shows the issuance date of the stamps and souvenir-sheet as November 13th, 1990, a time in which the standard domestic letter rate was already at 100D (so one would have needed almost twenty 6D Madonna stamps to cover that postage). It is therefore most likely that authorities withdrew the stamps after a short period of time but then decided six years later to release them into the philatelic market in order to philatelically monetize what had become an unusable stock. The editor has never seen a local Vietnamese letter that bears these stamps.
Here is the perforated set and the perforated souvenir-sheet
The imperforate set is very hard to find in mint condition. This may have to do with the fact that the set was withdrawn shortly after issue and when the stamps were finally sold into the philatelic market they were mostly cancelled to order. Nevertheless here is the mint imperforate set in matching side sheet margins.
Mint blocks of four in matching top left corner pieces.
and the imperforate set cancelled to order in matching corner pieces
Mint imperforate souvenir-sheet
Registered air mail letter sent in February of 1985 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. Th letter carries half of the perforated Correggio set plus stamps from the Communication Year, Flat Fish, Union Conference and Friendship sets for an overall postage of 43.62D. Fragment of the green Fulda custom cachet on front. Unusual manual R-label.
Registered air mail letter sent in February of 1985 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. Th letter carries the other half of the perforated Correggio set plus stamps from the Karl Marx, Flat Fish, Women Day and Friendship sets for an overall postage of 50.14D. Fragment of the green Fulda custom cachet on front. Unusual manual R-label.
Registered air mail letter sent in February of 1985 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter carries the perforated Correggio souvenir-sheet plus stamps from the Communication Year, Flat Fish, Karl Marx and Production and Defense sets for an overall postage of 45.40D. The Karl Marx stamps are represented in two different color shades (including the rare orange-brown one). Souvenir-Sheets on postally used cover are very rare. Fragment of the green Fulda custom cachet on front.
Registered air mail letter sent in April of 1985 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter carries the entire imperforate Protected Animals set plus some stamps from the Corregio, Orchid and Union Congress Confederation set for an overall postage of 37.0D. Fragment of the green Fulda custom cachet.
Registered air mail letter sent in April of 1984 from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz. The letter carries a number of the 50xu and 10D Friendship stamps some of which carry the plate errors described above plus the Correggio souvenir-sheet and some of the provisional overprints for an overall postage of 70.5D (including the red free frank for 35D). Errors stamps and souvenir-sheets on postally used cover are very rare. Fragment of the green Fulda custom cachet.
Registered air mail letter sent in April of 1984 to Klewitz. The letter carries nine of the 50xu Union Congree set plus other contemporary NVN stamps for an overall postage of 67 Dong (including the red free frank for 38D). Some of the 50xu stamps carry the plate errors detailed above (white crack through building, blue mark in symbol, blue line above THU. Two of the Insect stamps on the reverse are imperforate. Error and imperforate stamps on postally use cover are very rare. Free Fulda custom cachet on front.
Registered air mail letter sent in April of 1985 to Klewitz. the letter carries eight of the 50xu Union Congree stamps that carry some of the plate errors detailed above (girl with blue dot on nose, white line across face of stamp). On the reverse there are two fo the imperforate Insect stamps. Error and imperforate stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The overall postage of the letter amounted to 67D (including the red free frank for 35D). Green Fulda custom cachet on front.
Mixed franking of the imperforate Madonna souvenir-sheet together within pagoda stamps and a free frank for 46,500D paying an overall postage of 90,010 on an international letter sent from HCM City to the United States in March of 2020. This is the only postally used letter the editor has ever seen with the imperforate souvenir-sheet.
Registration Nr. 103770
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