Varieties in the Postage Stamps of Italy

by Tony Clayton

1952/4 Trieste 20 lire Recapito Autorizzato Varieties

There are four main varieties of the Trieste Zone A 20 lire Recapito Autorizzato stamp first issued in 1952.

The first has the watermark Winged Wheel Type I, and occurs with only one orientation, DB, where the point on the winged wheel points down and is on the right when seen from the back (DB stands for destra bassa). The overprint is type X/C (type X sub-type C) as shown in the illustration below, and has a longish hyphen. The issue date was 4th February 1952.

First type

Watermark Winged Wheel Type I DB

The second and third have the watermark Winged Wheel Type III, also with overprint type X/C, but with two orientations, DB as above, and also a very rare SB (sinistra bassa) with the wing point also pointing down but on the left side, again as viewed from the back. The issue date was 15th April 1952.

Winged Wheel Type III is rounder and far more distinct than Type I.

Type III DB

Type III SB

The fourth and scarcest variety was issued on 5th October 1954, just 41 days before the Trieste stamps were withdrawn from use on 15th November 1954. This also has the watermark Winged Wheel Type III (orientation DB), but a new overprint was used, type X/D, with a noticeably shorter hyphen, as shown in the illustration below.

Fourth Type

Details of the overprints for comparison:

Top: Type X/C overprint; long hyphen. Bottom: Type X/D overprint; short hyphen.

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