Rome-Mogadishu

Commissioned Services

The third and last type of stamps on this album page were used for a commissioned service that the post office conducted for the public. So far, I have been unable to determine what was that service. Once I do, I’ll update this page. Whatever it was, they first issued in 1913 three stamps to be used for paying the fee for the service. In 1925, they raised the charge to a flat one lira and overprinted the stamps they had in stock with that amount, as you can see on the last row here.

Private Mail Service

In the late 1920’s, there were apparently some businesses that started offering letter delivery services, competing with the Italian post office. Given the beauracratic and controlling nature of the Italian government, they did not like this and forbade it at first. As a compromise, they agreed to allow such private delivery services, providing the post office was given a cut. This was accomplished and verified with the inclusion of a special stamp: a Recapito Autorizzato, which is an archaic term for Authorized Delivery. Stanley-Gibbons’ Italy catalog translates it to mean, a Concessional Letter Postage stamp (i.e, the private company was given a concession to deliver mail).

The last three stamps on this page are Recapito Autorizzato stamps. Their face value, ten cents, is less than what the Italian post office charged. I find these stamps and other special stamps that Italy used to be interesting. Basically, these private companies were predecessors to Federal Express and these were the stamps they had to use.

Note

The one stamp I’m missing from this page was for official use only. There weren’t many of them printed: just 750 compared to the 10,000 for the one to the left of where it goes with the same face amount. As a result, they’re difficult to find for sale and are expensive.

Contains 16 spots: own 15 – 15 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Feb 4, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Rome - Mogadishu Flight

1.1	✓	A7	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	25+10c (nov 1934) air mail, olive green
1.2	✓	A8	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	50+10c (nov 1934) air mail, light brown
1.3	✓	A9	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	75+15c (nov 1934) air mail, carmine
2.1	✓	A10	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	80+15c (nov 1934) air mail, black brown
2.2	✓	A11	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	1₤+20c (nov 1934) air mail, red brown
2.3	✓	A12	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	2₤+20c (nov 1934) air mail, blue
3.1	✓	A13	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	3₤+20c (nov 1934) air mail, violet
3.2	✓	A14	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	5₤+25c (nov 1934) air mail, orange
3.3	✓	A15	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	10₤+30c (nov 1934) air mail, lilac
4.1	✓	A16	Rome - Mogadishu Flights	25+2₤ (nov 1934) air mail, green

Official Mail (Servizio di Stato)

4.2

SA1

Rome - Mogadishu Flights

25+2₤ (nov 1934)
air mail, brownish carmine

Service Commission

5.1	✓	SC1	Servizio commissioni	30c (jan 1916) postage due, red
5.2	✓	SC2	Servizio commissioni	60c (jan 1916) postage due, orange & light brown
5.3	✓	SC3	Servizio commissioni	90c (jan 1916) postage due, violet

Private Delivery

5.4	✓	RA1	Authorized Receipt	10c (may 1939) special, brown
5.5	✓	RA2	Recapito Autorizzato	10c (feb 1941) special, grey brown

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.