Lot 1330

1902 Mongtze B (Yunnanfu) (13 Sep) to France. Shipwreck cover, f.w. Navigation and Commerce issue 15c + 10c, tied by scarce Mongtze B French PO cds. Transit Laokay (Sep), Hanoi (9 Oct), Haiphong (10 Oct), Saigon (14 Oct). Arrived Bordeaux (14 Nov). On reverse showing "Naufrage du Passe-Partout". The shipwreck of postal barge "Le Passe Partout" happened on 29 Sep on Red River. It is one of the two covers known applied with this shipwreck marking. In 1900, Mengtsz and Yunnanfu were still not open to foreigners. French Indochina therefore set up the post offices in Mengtsz and Yunnanfu in the name of "Laokay A" and "Laokay B" respectively to keep a low profile. In 1901, Mengtsz was open to foreigners so "Laokay A" was changed to "Mongtze" while Yunnanfu was changed to "Mongtze B" until 1904 Yunnanfu was also open. According to AVA's record, about 20 covers from Mongtze B exist and it is probably the only one suriving the Passe-Partout shipwreck.

1902.9.13 蒙自B（雲南府）寄法國。船難封，貼航海及商貿神像15生丁 + 10生丁，銷稀罕之蒙自B法局日戳。同月經老街，10.9經河內，10.10經海防，10.14經西貢。11.14抵波爾多。背面蓋有“Naufrage du Passe-Partout”橫戳。1902年9 月25日，紅河上一艘運送郵件的小艇Passe-Partout號沉沒。目前已知蓋有此橫戳之存世例子不過兩件。 1900年，蒙自及雲南府尚未對外國人開放，故印支郵政在蒙自及雲南府的郵戳上，分別雋刻地名“老街A”及“老街B”以蒙混過關。到1901年，蒙自對外國人開放，故郵戳可改回“蒙自”，而雲南府則改為“蒙自B”。在1904年雲南府亦相繼開放，始使用正確地名。按艾華記錄，蒙自B寄出之信封存世約20件，是法國客郵中的罕品，此件更可能為當中唯一一件經歷Passe-Partout號船難者。