Be sure that any stamp in this set, and 99.9% of others, is printed on a single type of paper only.

Different values of a set can be printed on different papers due to shortage of material. Note that this particular set was issued in June 1979, only a few months after China’s war against the country.

The translation provided be google is unfortunately wrong. If you chose the website’s official English version, you would have found a better translation: “Ungummed paper” (http://www.vietstamp.net/2/Product/1673/). This fact is however not related to the issue under discussion.

Rgds.

Yes, they are different stamps. But why would they have printed one stamp on a series on different paper? That doesn’t make sense. The VietStamps website states “Type of paper: Uncoated paper, glue on the back”. But that’s not true in my opinion. The first stamp on my photo is definitely on coated/glossy paper. No doubt about it.

If looking at the images on VietStamps catalogue, I would say the same applies there too for some copies. The 2nd and 3rd stamp appear to be on whiter paper than others; so likely they have printed on coated/glossy paper. This would make the situation even more interesting, as it would mean all/some stamps in this series exist in (at least) two types of paper. Instead of looking at what’s listed in stamp catalogues, I’m simply putting my own observations forth here.

For the 35 years of my collecting, I have not known of a single “westerner” who collects only one or some stamps out of a full set!

The mentioned 5-value set can be found here

Sorry, but your notes on two different types of paper for printing stamps are incorrect

How do you explain the difference (visible in image too)? The first 6xu stamp is on bright white (glossy/coated-like) paper, the following 6xu stamps are on more or less rough (pulp-like) paper. I know the papers are different – I can see and feel it.

Sorry, but your notes on two different types of paper for printing stamps are incorrect. There’s only one case this was observed, in the 1950s, when some kind of thinner paper was used to reprint the 30 and 50D values of the Land Reform set. These two stamps, in mint condition, are rare today.