Varieties in the Postage Stamps of Italy

by Tony Clayton

Trieste Philatelic Congress, 1922

These stamps were only on sale at the Central Post Office in Trieste from the 4th to the 10th of June 1922, and so have always been a bit scarce. Forgeries of the overprint abound, and note should be taken of the various characteristics, bearing in mind that the overprint does vary slightly from stamp to stamp on the sheet.

The overprint was typographed heavily, so on the reverse the inscription should be clearly seen in relief as the type deforms the paper. Lithographic forgeries do not show this.

Roy Dehn in his book 'Italian Stamps' gives the following characteristics:

1: IX CONGRESSO 16.0mm long. The N is narrow and not as tall as the other letters. The last S is placed a fraction below the S that precedes it. The terminal O is not only fractionally larger than the other letters, but is set with its base 0.25mm below the baseline of the preceding S.
2: FILATELICO 11.6mm long. The C is often below the level of the preceding I and the second L is usually not aligned with the remaining letters.
3: ITALIANO 9.4mm long. The base of the O is lower than that of the preceding N.
4: The rule is 6mm long
5: TRIESTE 8.6mm long. the R is less tall than the preceding T.
6: 1922 7mm long. The curves of both 2's join the base line at about mid point.

A scarce variety has the first I of ITALIANO below the first I in FILATELICO (it is normally to the left) as the entire line is displaced to the right.

Trieste Philatelic Congress 25c Sassone 125.	Variety with third line displaced to the right Sassone 125d*.
Trieste Philatelic Congress 10c Sassone 123*.	25c used Sassone 125.
Trieste Philatelic Congress 15c Sassone 124*.	15c used Sassone 124.
Trieste Philatelic Congress 15c Sassone 126*.	15c used Sassone 126.

I have a Raybaudi certificate for those marked with an *. I will leave you to judge whether the remainder are genuine or not!

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