London Printer
You may notice at the top of this album page, of the scanned image, it says, Tiratura di Londra. That translates to London edition or London printing. Incidentally, related to that, the word to print in Italian is stampare – as in stamp in English, and la stampa in Italian. But stamp in English is translated to francobollo in Italian: franco or franc for the common name of cash or a lira at the time, and bollo meaning tax or bill.
These stamps were first printed by a London printer called De La Rue, which is still in business. Perhaps in the early days the Italian government was not equiped for the task of printing stamps for an entire nation the size of Italy. It wasn’t long, though, until the work was given to an Italian printer, the Government Printing Works in Torino (i.e., Turin), where the capital of the Kindom of Sardinia and the king had been located. Reprints in Torino of these same stamps are shown on the next page.
First Official Definitives
These stamps are what are known in the stamp collecting community as definitives. They’re identified in the table below under the type column. They’re sold typically by the post office for several years. The term is in contrast to a provisional or temporary stamp, or a commemorative stamp. Definitives usually include stamps from a range of denominations to cover the postal rates of the time, or deviations with combinations of lower amounts. For example, 1-cent stamps might be used for additional weight over the standard weight.
The image of the king, Vittorio Emanuele II, on these stamps are all printed. The process of embossing stamps is more expensive and I imagine more labor intensive. It’s simpler to just print the whole stamp. There are watermarks on the backs of some, though. Also, they’re all perforated. That seems to have become the norm when these stamps were first printed in the mid-1860s.
Note
These stamps are identical to the ones on the next page – I have most of those in unused. The difference between these stamps and those is that these were printed in London, and the ones on the next page were printed in Torino. The difference to me, though, is that the London ones cost plenty.
In recent months, I’ve managed to acquire a few of these stamps, primarily through auctions. This month, I won the first one on the second row at an auction. But I bought the one at the end of the third row from a store. Stamps like these require some shopping skills. It’ll take a while, but I’ll eventually get them all.
You may notice that I added a stamp at the bottom of the page. Even though it was printed in London, it was on the next page with the Torino stamps. You can read more about that move, or addition on that page.
Contains 13 spots: own 11 – 6 unused, 5 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Dec 12, 2023
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 |
Adorned Numbers
✗ |
14L |
1c (1865) |
|||
15L |
2c (mar 1865) |
Vittorio Emanuele II - Joubert & Wyon
✓ |
16L |
5c (1865) |
|||
✗ |
17L |
10c (1865) |
|||
✗ |
18L |
15c (1865) |
philafer (€ 300) |
||
19L |
30c (1865) |
d.c. editore (€ 64) |
|||
✗ |
20L |
40c (1865) |
|||
✓ |
21L |
60c (1865) |
|||
✓ |
22L |
2₤ (1865) |
Horseshoe Overprints
✗ |
23L |
20c (jan 1865) |
|||
✓ |
24L |
20c (jan 1865) |
|||
✓ |
25L |
20c (jan 1865) |
Vittorio Emanuele II - Joubert & Wyon
✓ |
26L |
20c (apr 1867) |
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.
