Day of Telephony

Unified Vietnam, Day of Telephony, August 25th, 1980, Michel Nr. 1123-1124; Two stamps with 12 xu nominals were issued in perforations 11.0 for the stamp depicting the postal operator and 11.75 for the stamp depicting the train. Michel reports the latter stamp with a 12.0 perforation but the editor has not found any stamps with this perforation in his collection (which amounts to hundreds of these stamps). The confection of the stamps was rather unusual which may be a result of the small format of both stamps. Michel Nr. 1123 was produced in sheets of 256 stamps (16 rows of 16 stamps) and Michel Nr. 1124 was produced in sheets of 252 stamps (14 rows of 18 stamps). Because this confection would have produced accounting challenges due to the rather odd numbers it was decided that six stamp chliche’s were simply removed from the left bottom row of Michel Nr. 1123 creating six empty fields. On Michel Nr. 1124 the two top right stamps in each sheet (Fields A18 and B18) were simply overprinted with a black rectangle resulting in a black-out of the two fields. Sometimes unsavory stamp sellers will sell these stamps with empty fields attached or blacked out stamps as errors but this is not the case. Every sheet looks the same and hence the variations are not rare.

Here is the mint Michel Nr- 1123:

Here is the mint Michel Nr. 1124:

Here is the mint bottom left part of the sheet that shows the six empty fields:

Here is mint piece from the top right part of the sheet that shows the two blacked-out stamps. The block also shows narrower and wider stamp sizes in the vertical rows.

Here are two perforation errors that show one stamp that is imperforate at the bottom and the other imperforate on the left side.

These stamps were not officially released imperforate but a small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Here is one of them.

There are some re-occuring plate errors on Michel Nr. 1123. Below is a block of sixteen mint stamps. On fields 51 and 55 in the piece one can find an “extended horizontal bar in the A of Vietnam” and on fields 65 and 72 one can find “a broken left line in the N of Vietnam”.

Here are detailed scans of the affected areas:

Blue-grey passer crosses shows up in a number of fields. Here is a specimen from Field 160 that shows a passer-cross at the bottom right of the stamp:

Similarly there are also some re-occuring plate errors on Michel Nr. 1124. Below is a mint block of six. The top left stamp shows a broken “T” in “Vietnam”

Here is a detailed scan of the affected area:

Block of four mint stamps that shows a re-occuring plate error “broken train line and red star” in the top left stamp and the additional accent on the “I” of Vietnam (bottom right field, Field 236):

Here is a detailed scan of the affected area:

Field 26 (that is contained in the block of nine depicted above) carries a re-occuring plate error that shows “a broken M in Vietnam”. Here is a detailed scan of the affected area:

There are also a number of perforation errors. Here is a mint strip of three that shows missing vertical perforation holes:

Block of six that is significantly mis-perforated. This piece also has missing horizontal and vertical perforation holes:

Here is a piece of six stamps that is affected by a very large paper fold that occurred during production:

Rare multiple franking of the 12 xu Day of Telephony stamp (3) on a local cover sent from Ham Thuan to HCM City in October of 1981paying an overall postage of 36 xu.

Mixed franking of two of the Day Telephony stamps together with the 6 xu Cubn Revolution stamp paying the standard letter rate of 30 xu.

Letter front with a similar 30 xu franking, this time made up of two Day of Telephony stamps plus the 6 xu Flower stamp.

Rare very large registered express mail letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in October of 1981. The letter carries a mass franking of both stamps plus other NVN stamps. Plate errors on Michel Nr. 1123 (extended horizontal line in A, broken N and blue-grey passer cross). The overall postage amounted to 12 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in October of 1981. The letter carries a block of sixteen stamps of Michel Nr. 1123 the shows again a number of plate errors (extended horizontal line in A, broken N and blue-grey passer cross). Overall postage amounted to 7.91 Dong (including the free frank for 5 Dong). Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Rare registered express mail letter sent from Hung Vuong to Klewitz in May of 1981. It carries the train stamp with the two blocked out fields plus a range of stamps from the Total Liberation set for an overall postage of 13.90 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse

Registered letter sent to Klewitz in January of 1982 with a mass franking of the 12 xu Postal Clerk stamp plus some other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 11.60 Dong. Unusual use of two three franks on the reverse.

Registered letter sent in March of 1982 to Klewitz. It carries a block of sixteen of the 12 xu Postal Clerk stamp plus a num er of the Birds stamps on the reverse for an overall postage of 10.98 Dong (including the red free frank of 8 Dong).

Very large registered letter sent from Nguyen-Trai to Klewitz in May of 1982. It carries a mass franking of the 12 xu Train stamp plus other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 11.98 Dong (excluding the military free franks). There are two military free franks which were not valid for international mail due to the missing nominal. Nevertheless it appears that the postal clerk did not object to the use of these stamps. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in December of 1981. The letter features the two different color variations of the 12 xu Coat of Arms stamp with the sheet numbers. Stamps with sheet numbers attached on postally cover are rare. The letter also carries a military free frank for veterans on the back. Since this free frank actually had a nominal valuer it could be used for both, domestic and international postage though 12 xu only covered the standard domestic letter rate. A number of Bird set stamp and two of the Telephony stamps on the reverse. The overall postage amounted to 7.90 Dong (including the red free frank of 2.72 Dong).

Rare very large registered express mail letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in January of 1982. It carries both color tones of the 50 xu stamp- Also the top left block of four shows a horizontal double perforation. Error stamps on postally used cover are very rare. The letter also features the 12 xu Lotus stamp (Perf.11) on yellowish paper and the the Telephonist stamp with the passer-cross at the bottom right (left stamp of the pair). There are also a number of the Five Year Plan stamps. The overall postage amounted to 12.62 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Rare very large registered express mail letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in May of 1982. The letter carries a large number of stamps from the Animal set that show different color tones. Unusual use of three different free franks on the reverse. Telephony stamps in front and back. The overall postage amounted to 18.56 Dong. Fulda arrival cancel on the back.Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in September of 1983. The letter carries a block of six of the 2 Dong value. Three of the stamps show the plate errors “distorted d” (Field 19), “P instead of O in FAO” (Field 30) and “half-moon in emblem” (Field 39). Plate errors on postally used cover are very rare. Five Days Telephony stamps in front. The overall postage amounted to 14.16 Dong (including the red free frank of 4.16 Dong). Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in April of 1982. The letter carries the entire Nutritional Day set plus other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 7.50 Dong. The top 30 xu stamp shows a plate error “line on O of FAO”. Year of Telephony stamps on front. Interesting manuscript R-label. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Quan 5 (Cholon) to Klewitz in April of 1982. The letter features the entire Nutritional Day set. The 2 Dong stamps features both color variations. Day Telephony stamps in front and back. The overall postage amounted to 9.78 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Ho Chi Minh City to Klewitz in April of 1982. The letter carris two each of the 50 xu and 2 Dong value of the Nutritional Day set plus some Telephony stamps for an overall postage of 8.20 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in March of 1983. The letter carries a 50 xu World Congress stamp with the plate error “dot above X” and the very rare Post Master Perforation (Perf 15) of the 12 xu Lotus stamp. Error stamps and Post Master Perforations on postally used cover are very rare. Telephony stamps on the reverse. The overall postage amounted to 9.33 Dong. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in January of 1982 (four months ahead of the official issuance date). It features pairs of the Militia stamp in Post Master Perforations 8.5 and 10.5. Post Master Perforation son postally used cover are very rare. Telephony stamps in front and on back. The overall postage of the letter amounted to 7.72 Dong.

Registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in August of 1982. The letter carries the Women Congress set plus other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 22.82 Dong (including the red free frank for 15.5 Dong). Telephony stamps on the reverse. Transit cancel on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet one front.

Registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in November of 1982. The letter carries half of the perforated Harmful Insect set and other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 14.4 Dong (including the red free frank for 9 Dong). Telephony stamps on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.

Another registered letter sent from Nguyen Trai to Klewitz in November of 1982. The letter carries the other half of the perforated Harmful Insect set and other NVN stamps for an overall postage of 13.86 Dong (including the red free frank for 8 Dong). Telephony stamps on the reverse. Green Fulda custom cachet on front.