Postage Stamps of Italian States

by Tony Clayton

Lombardy-Venetia

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In 1815 the Treaty of Vienna joined Lombardy and Venetia as a Kingdom under the control of Austria.

The stamps were as issued for Austria, but denominated initially in centesimi (100 centesimi = 1 Austrian Lire = 0.865 Italian Lire) changing to soldi in 1858 (100 soldi = 1 florin = 2.47 Italian lire)

This page is the original version of that to be found on www.austrianstamps.co.uk; the other version has slightly smaller images.

Austro-Hungarian Arms Issue, 1850

This issue is quite complex with up to three types and four different papers. The 5c and 10c are only found in Type I.

5 centesimi yellow with a nice Venetia postmark Sassone 1.

10 centesimi black Sassone 2.

15 centesimi rose, Type I KK flaw, solid shield-plant border, 5 low away from border Sassone 3.

15 centesimi rose, Type II KK correct, solid shield-plant border, 5 close to border Sassone 5.

15 centesimi rose, Type III KK correct, separated shield-plant border, 5 close to border Sassone 6.

30 centesimi brown, Type I Elliptical tail to 3 Sassone 7.

30 centesimi brown, Type III Round tail to 3 Sassone 9.

45 centesimi blue, Type I 45 far from left border, solid shield-plant border, 45 below CENTES Sassone 10.

45 centesimi blue, Type II 45 closer to left border, solid shield-plant border, 45 level with CENTES Sassone 11.

45 centesimi blue, Type III 45 closer to left border, separated shield-plant border, 45 level with CENTES Sassone 12.

First Portrait Issue, 1858

This comes with two portrait types. Type I has a bow seperate from the head, while Type II (introduced in 1859) has the bow joined and is spikier at the top of the head. The 3 soldi was reissued in green in 1862.

2 soldi yellow, Type I Sassone 23.

2 soldi yellow, Type II Sassone 28.

The yellow colour makes distinguishing the two types difficult. A false colour scan of the word SOLDI shows the difference under the letter O. (Type I above with a blob under the O which is absent on Type II)

3 soldi black, Type I Sassone 23.	3 soldi black, Type II Sassone 28.
5 soldi red, Type I Sassone 25.	5 soldi red, Type II Sassone 30.
15 soldi blue, Type I Sassone 27.	15 soldi blue, Type II Sassone 32.

3 soldi green, type II head Sassone 35.

Second Portrait Issue, 1861-2

5 soldi red Sassone 33.

10 soldi brown Sassone 34.

Oval Arms Issue, 1863

Issued with perf 14 initially, a change to perf 9½ took place in 1864-5. These issues were also used at Austrian PO's in the Levant.

1863 issue. 15 soldi perf 14 Sassone 40. This stamp was used in Smirne, so in a sense comes under Austrian Levant (and is worth less than if it had a Lombardy-Venetia postmark)

1864 issue. 2 soldi perf 9½ Sassone 41. Courtesy of Italy and Colonies Study Circle

Newspaper Stamps

As they showed no denomination, Austrian newspaper stamps were used in Lombardy-Venetia. The postmark is the sole way of telling where it was used.

1863 issue. 1.05 soldi grey-brown Sassone 11. This stamp was used in Udine, part of Venetia.

In 1859 most of Lombardy became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In 1866 Venetia became part of the Kingdom of Italy.

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