Milan Trade Fair
On each of the stamps on the top row, you may notice the initials, M.V.S.N. This stands for Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, which translates to Voluntary Militia for National Security in English. Just that title of the group is troublesome: it was a group of people who joined a movement to enforce their will on the public by initimidation and violence to adhere to the standards of the Fascist political party. Because they generally work black shirts or at least black hats and shirts with black trim, they were known as the Black Shirts – Camicie Nere in Italian. Incidentally, a humorous parody of the Black Shirts was written by P.G. Wodehouse in England. He called the British equivalent, the Black Shorts.
International Air Show
From June 1934 to January 1935, the Palazzo dell’Arte in Milan hosted the Esposizione Aeronautica Italiana, which translates to the Exhibition of Italian Aeronautics. It traced Italian aviation from the designs of Leonardo da Vinci to the transatlantic flights of Italo Balbo, and it included aircraft with famous histories as well as the 1934 world speed record of 709.209 km/h set by Francesco Agello. Over 320,000 people visited. Basically, it was propaganda meant to present aviation as proof of what Italy could achieve.
Promoting Italian Goods
In Milan in the early 1900s, the local government built a set of pavillions for hosting annual trade fairs to promote Italian businesses and products. It was originally built on what is now part of Parco Sempione, in its north east corner. One of those structures, one of the few that were made of stone rather than wood, remains: the Milan Civic Aquarium, which I’ve visited quite a few times. Many decades later, Fiera di Milano was relocated outside of Milan, near Rho and Pero, Italy.
The four stamps on the bottom two rows of this album page were issued to celebrate the 1936 Milan Trade Fair. The four stamps on second row, the air mail stamps including two depicting Leonardo da Vinci, were to promote the first year of the Internation Aeronautic Show, which was held at the Milan Trade Fair.
Note
This album page has been completed recently: As you can see in the scanned image of the album page, I own all of these stamps in unused condition. It may be nerdy to say, but that makes me feel good. Now I need to write text describing these stamps.
Contains 13 spots: own 13 – 13 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 |
M.V.S.N.: Blackshirts
✓ |
380 |
20+10c (jul 1935) |
|||
✓ |
381 |
25+15c (jul 1935) |
|||
✓ |
382 |
50+30c (jul 1935) |
|||
✓ |
383 |
1.25+0.75₤ (jul 1935) |
|||
✓ |
A89 |
50+50c (jul 1935) |
1st Intl. Air Show
✓ |
384 |
20c (oct 1935) |
|||
✓ |
386 |
50c (oct 1935) |
|||
✓ |
387 |
1.25₤ (oct 1935) |
|||
✓ |
385 |
30c (oct 1935) |
17th Milan Trade Fair
✓ |
394 |
20c (mar 1936) |
|||
✓ |
395 |
30c (mar 1936) |
|||
✓ |
396 |
50c (mar 1936) |
|||
✓ |
397 |
1.25₤ (mar 1936) |
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.
