Fiume Annexation
Rijeka, known as Fiume to Italians – both meaning river, as in river town – is a coastal city now located in Croatia. It’s located near the Trieste and Italy. At the end of World War I, Trieste became part of Italy, but not Rijeka – although Italy wanted it and felt it was owed given that Italy was militarily triumphant in this region and was instrumental in the ending of the war. Instead, the city and the region around the bay of Rijeka became a free state. That lasted about three years before the area was divided between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom of Italy under the Treaty of Rome. Italy got the city itself and some of the land along the coast to connect it physically to Italy. They remained part of Italy until the end of World War II. This annexation was due to the Italian Fascist party pushing for the building of an Italian empire. So when they fell and the war ended, they lost their colonies and other territories they took during their control of the kingdom.
These stamps were issued to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the annexation of Fiume (i.e., Rijeka). Each design seems to commemorate a historic moment in the history leading to Italian annexation. The ones with drawings of an anchor commemorate the Italian Navy raiding the bay and establishing an Italian presence in November 1918. There are some with a man in a trench coat with the date September 12, 1918, the day after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which made the Rijeka region a free state. There’s another one with the date, December 24 to 28 1920, which I have no guess as to what it signifies. Then there is the one with the city being held up by a pair of hands, like it’s a crown or a gift from God. It has a date of February 22, 1924. I’m not too sure about that date either. Last, there’s one with the date March 16, 1924. That’s when it officially became part of the Italian kingdom – or the Italian empire.
Note
This page is full and finished. I have all unused stamps for all of the spots on this album page. The theme for all of them is related to the tenth anniversary of the annexation of the city of Fiume, which is now part of Croatia.
Contains 16 spots: own 16 – 16 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Oct 28, 2022
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 |
Fiume
✓ |
350 |
10c (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
351 |
20c (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
352 |
50c (mar 1934) |
Fiume: Semi-Postal
✓ |
353 |
1.25₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
354 |
1.75+1₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
355 |
2.55+2₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
356 |
2.75+2.50₤ (mar 1934) |
Fiume: Air Mail
✓ |
A60 |
25c (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A61 |
50c (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A62 |
75c (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A63 |
1+0.50₤ (mar 1934) |
Semi-Postal Air Mail
✓ |
A64 |
2+1.50₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A65 |
3+2₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A66 |
2+1.25₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A67 |
2.25+1.25₤ (mar 1934) |
|||
✓ |
A68 |
4.50+2₤ (mar 1934) |
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.
