Buddhism

South Vietnam, Buddhism, May 15th, 1965, Michel Nr. SVN 330-332; South Vietnamese of the Buddhist faith were very much disenfranchised by the Ngô Đình Diệm regime which led to the dramatic self-immolation of Buddhist monks in front of television cameras. The military Government that took over after the coup against Ngô Đình Diệm obviously felt that they had to appease this particular religious group by issuing a stamp set in their honor. Three stamps in nominals of 50c, 1.50D and 3D were issued in perforation 13.

Here is the mint set.

and here the postally used et.

These stamps were not officially released imperforate, however, a small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market. Here is the imperforate set in pairs.

Enpreuves de Luxe; “Imprimerie des Timbres-Poste, Paris” inscribed at bottom right.

First Day Cover mailed to Hong Kong paying an overall postage of 8D.

Single franking of the 1.50D value on a domestic air mail letter sent in June of 1965 by a member of the military (KBC 4091/Quang Trung Training Center in Quang Tre) to a civilian in Saigon. Cancelled with the mute “Quan Buu” military cancel. Circular red KBC cachet on front.

Single franking of the 1.50D value on a domestic air mail letter sent in October of 1965 by a member of the military (KBC 3185) to a civilian in Kien Hoa. Cancelled with the “mute” Quan Buu military cancel. Red circular KBC cachet on front. Truc Giang and Mocay transit cancels on the reverse.

Single franking of the 3D value on a domestic letter sent by the U.S. Naval Commander for support activity to a civilian in Saigon.

Rare multiple franking of the 3D value (7) paying an overall postage of 21D on a registered international letter sent from Din-Linh (small post office) to France in September of 1965.

Registration Nr. 200520