North Vietnam, Massacre at Phu Loi Concentration Camp, May 15th, 1959, Michel Nr. 100-101; Little publicly available information is available about the so called Massacre of Phu Loi. Over 1,000 political prisoners died in the detention camp of Phu Loi in December 1958 by food poisoning. Cleary the North Vietnamese Government felt strongly that the food poisoning was not accidental but was an intentional effort by the South Vietnamese Diem Government to rid itself of unwanted societal elements. Two values were issue, 12 xu, which covered the standard national letter rate and 20 xu which covered the air mail standard letter rate to Eastern Europe.

Here are mint blocks of four of both values

Here is the set postally used. Postally used stamps are at least ten times rarer than cancelled to order stamps.

Perforation Errors do occur. Here are two single stamps the 20 xu value with perforation missing on the left and top of the stamp:

Mixed franking of the 12Xu Phu Loi Massacre stamp together with the 6xu Sluice and 12xu Vietnam Day stamps paying an overall postage of 30xu on an in terminational air mail letter sent in August of 1959 from Hanoi toi East Germany.

Postally used letters are rare. Here is a letter sent to the North Vietnamese Embassy in East Berlin. It was mailed on August 3rd, 1959 and carries a single stamp of the 20 xu issue (ex Klewitz).

Another letter with a single franking of the 20xu stamp mailed in October of 1959 by an East German Government Department (Telephone Switch Hanoi-Construction Management) to State owned telephone company in East Berlin.

At the time the tariff for postcards and letters was the same at 20xu. This changed in March 1st, 1960 when the postcard tariff to fellow socialist countries was reduced from 20xu to 6xu. Here is a postcard mailed to Hungary in November of 1959.

Rare multiple franking of the 20xu stamp in a late usage of the stamp on a letter in May of 1975. The standard letter rate to fellow socialist countries had increased from 12xu to 40xu on November 16th, 1974, so the postage was correct.

Mixed franking featuring both values of the set, from Hanoi Cua-Nam (a suburb of Hanoi) sent in May of 1959 to Theo Klewitz in Fulda, West Germany. However, the letter was falsely marked with “RDA” (=Republique Democratic) which stood for East Germany. The standard letter tariff to fellow socialist countries as of April 15th, 1959 was 20xu, so the letter was either heavier than the standard 20g or was over-franked.

Mixed franking of a block of four of the 20xu Phu Loi stamp together with other early NVN stamp for an overall postage of 88xu on a letter sent in December of 1959 to Czechoslovakia. The standard letter tariff to fellow socialist countries, like Czechoslovakia, only amounted to 20xu as of April 15th, 1959 so this letter must have been much heavier than the standard 20g allowance.

Rare Specimen/Printed Matter Xunhasaba mailing from February of 1965. The letter carries a mix of regular stamps (Phu Lo’i and Folk Dance sets) plus one of the 40 xu Official Union Congress stamps for an overall postage of 1.10D. West Germany was still a rare destination in the early 1960’s.

Very rare letter featuring the im-perforated souvenir sheet of the Dien Bien Phu set and a single 20 xu stamp of the massacre set. Souvenir sheets on postally used cover are very rare. Only a handful of other examples exist. The letter is franked with 53 xu which was slightly in excess of the required rate of 50 xu.

Interesting mixed currency franking mailed by Xunhasaba as a Spcimen/Printed Matter in April of 1964. The letter carries the 500D Physical Education stamp that was devalued on March 1st, 1959 so was only worth 50xu at the time of mailing. The overall postage, which included the 20xu Phu Loi stamp, hence amounted to 73xu. England was still a rare destination in the early 1960’s.

Mixed franking by Xunhasaba featuring the 50xu Space Exploration stamp plus other stamps from the Mountain Tribe and Phu Lo’i set for an overall postage of 74xu.

Mixed currency franking on a latter sent to Czechoslovakia in May of 1959. The two 50D Reunification stamps had been devalued by 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 so were only worth 10xu on the day of mailing. A 20xu Massacre stamp was added for an overall postage of 30xu, which represented the standard surface letter rate as of March 13th, 1957.

Mixed currency franking sent by Xunhasaba in 1962 using a combination of Old Dong stamps (620D) that were devalued 1,000:1 on March 1st, 1959 with stamps in New Dong (20xu). So, the overall postage amounted to 82xu. England was still a rathe rarer destination in 1962.

Registration Nr. 100230

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