Express Mail

Starting in 1903, Italy began to offer express mail service. This is an expedited mail delivery service. It costs extra, but your mail is delivered faster. This concept was established by the Universal Postal Union, which is now part of the United Nations. The U.P.U. was established in 1874: Italy joined three months later. As a result of this membership, Italians were able to use express service for sending mail quickly internationally.

Looking at the years these stamps were issued and values on these stamps, as well as the overprinting of the face values, it would seem that Italy took a while to decide on the price for express mail – within Italy and internationally.

Note

This page is now complete. Since I like pneumatic and express mail stamps for some reason, I strove to get all of the stamps on this page. The last one that remained, the second one on the third row, is usually pricey: around one-hundred fifty euros. However, I managed to get it at a local stamp auction for much less than that. It completes this page and all of the pneumatic issued by the Italian Kingdom.

Although I’ve bought stamps at auctions before, receiving an order in the mail for just one stamp is a new experience for me. It seems my Italian stamp collecting is becoming more calculating and precise – less haphazard or rather involving less bulk ordering. That may take some adjusting, but it’s the state for which I’ve been longing.

Contains 14 spots: own 14 – 14 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

Express: First Two Decades

1.1	✓	E1	Vittorio Emanuele III Cellini Design	25c (jun 1903) express, rose
1.2	✓	E2	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni Design	30c (dec 1908) express, red & light blue
1.3	✓	E3	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni, Urgent 40c Overprinted	25c (nov 1917) express, purple

Express: Shifting Prices

2.1	✓	E4	Vittorio Emanuele III Cellini Design	50c (may 1920) express, brown rose
2.2	✓	E5	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni, 30c Overprinted	1.20₤ (oct 1921) express, red & blue
2.3	✓	E6	Vittorio Emanuele III Celllini, 50c Overprinted	60c (jan 1922) express, brown rose
3.1	✓	E7	Vittorio Emanuele III Cellini Design	60c (oct 1922) express, red
3.2	✓	E8	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni Design	1.20₤ (oct 1922) express, red & blue
3.3	✓	E9	Vittorio Emanuele III Celllini, 60c Overprinted	70c (apr 1925) express, dark pink
4.1	✓	E11	Vittorio Emanuele III Cellini Design	70c (jun 1925) express, carmine
4.2	✓	E10	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni, 1.20₤ Overprinted	1.60₤ (may 1924) express, red & sky blue
4.3	✓	E12	Vittorio Emanuele III Cellini Design	1.25₤ (sep 1926) express, sky blue
5.1	✓	E13	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni Design	2₤ (feb 1925) express, red & sky blue
5.2	✓	E14	Vittorio Emanuele III Leoni Design	2.50₤ (feb 1926) express, red & sky blue

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.