Proclamation of Empire

I’m not quite sure of the message intended in this series of stamps. There are ten images – three are repeated in air mail form. Except for one stamp, each image is of a famous Italian – although some predate the kingdom and country of Italy – with a date related to the person. Several of the stamps have quotes from Benito Mussolini with the letter M in a script like font, as if it’s his signature.

The first stamp here is meant to depict Romulus, the founder of Rome, with the year of his birth, 753 b.c.e., which I’m not sure its significance. The second stamp shows the Emperor Augustus and the year 30 b.c.e. Next is the writer Dante Alighieri, with the years he lived: 1265 to 1321 c.e.

Starting on the second row is Christopher Columbus and the year he first landed in the Americas, 1492. Then there’s Leonardo da Vinci and the years he lived: 1452 to 1519.

The next one, the third stamp on the second row, is the only one with two people: Vittorio Emanuelle II, who was king in the 1800s and General Giuseppe Garibaldi, who conquered and united all of Italy – at first all except the Papal States around Rome because it was protected by the French, but they took them a few years later when the French left. There are two dates on that stamp: 1870, which is when the Papal States were taken and the capitol was moved from Torino to Rome; the other date is 1821, which I cannot find a what it celebrates, unless it’s a mistake that the king was born then and not in 1820.

The last stamp on the second row is of a soldier, the proverbial unknown soldier. It has the dates of 1915 and 1918, which are the dates in which Italy pariticpated in World War I, ending with the Battle of Vittorio Veneto defeating the Austro-Hungarian empire, and thereby ending that empire and starting the Italian empire.

The first of third row of stamps here was meant to commemorate the March on Rome. That’s when National Fascist Party of Italy and Mussolini took charge of the country. The next stamp seems related to the first. It shows the symbols of the fascists and the church and a crown or ring. The date is 1936, which is when Vittorio Emanuelle III, then king of Italy, became known also as the Emperor – in particular of Ethiopia. The next stamps shows Vittorio Emanuelle III with the years 1911, 1918, and 1936. I’ve already mentioned the significance of the latter two, but cannot think the point of the first year.

Note

This page is very satisfying. It’s complete with all unused stamps. When I resumed my interest in collecting stamps and started this sub-domain web site this past Summer, I had only half of these stamps. There’s something pleasing about completing an album page and seeing all nice looking stamps on the page. It’s part of the psychological attraction of stamp collecting: bringing completion and order to a small part of one’s own world.

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

Proclamation of Empire

1.1	✓	439	Romulus Plowing Tracing Sign of Infallible Destiny	10c (oct 1938) comm., dark brown
1.2	✓	440	Emperor Augustus Coordination of All Forces under Orders of One	20c (oct 1938) comm., carmine
1.3	✓	441	Dante Alighieri Highest Genius of Poetry	25c (oct 1938) comm., green
2.1	✓	442	Christopher Colombus Most Daring Navigator of the Oceans	30c (oct 1938) comm., dark olive brown
2.2	✓	443	Leonardo da Vinci Deepest Mind in Arts & Sciences	50c (oct 1938) comm., violet
2.3	✓	444	Vittorio II & Garibaldi The Unitary Tremor Erupts	75c (oct 1938) comm., red
2.4	✓	445	Tomb of Unknown Soldier The Sacrifice was Great but Not in Vain	1.25₤ (oct 1938) comm., blue
3.1	✓	446	Blackshirt March on Rome Victory was Redeemed and Forever	1.75₤ (oct 1938) comm., black violet
3.2	✓	447	Iron Crown of Monza Empire of Civilization & Humanity for Ethiopians	2.75₤ (oct 1938) comm., dark green blue
3.3	✓	448	Vittorio Emanuele III But I Don’t Doubt Him	5₤ (oct 1938) comm., brown red

Air Mail

4.1	✓	A111	Vittorio Emanuele III	25c (oct 1938) air mail, dark green blue
4.2	✓	A112	Dante Alighieri	50c (oct 1938) air mail, dark brown
4.3	✓	A113	Dante Alighieri	1₤ (oct 1938) air mail, violet
4.4	✓	A114	Leonardo da Vinci	2₤ (oct 1938) air mail, deep blue
5.1	✓	A115	Vittorio Emanuele III	3₤ (oct 1938) air mail, brown carmine
5.2	✓	A116	Leonardo da Vinci	5₤ (oct 1938) air mail, green

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.