Airmail
These stamps depict Ahmet Zogu. He was born in 1895 and became prime minister of Albania in 1922. In June 1924 a revolt forced him out of the country, however he returned in December of that year with help from Yugoslavia. Rather than restore the old government, he declared Albania a republic on January 31, 1925, and made himself president.
On September 1, 1928, Zogu changed the republic into a monarchy and was proclaimed King of the Albanians as Zog I. He leaned heavily on Italy, which financed and trained much of his army, but that relationship eventually turned on him. On April 7, 1939, Italy invaded and he fled with his wife and infant son. He never returned to Albania and died in France in 1961.
In the background of these stamps are scenes in Tirana. It was founded in the early 1600s and became the capital of Albania in 1920 – several years before Zog took power. During his reign the city was rebuilt with wide boulevards and government buildings (e.g., ministries, a royal palace, and a main square), much of it designed by Italian architects. Basically, the goal was a capital that looked like a modern European one.
Note
These stamps are overprinted with text, Mbledhja Kushtetuese 12 - IV - 1939 XVII, which is Albanian for Constitutional Assembly. The 12 - IV - 1939 part stands for the date (i.e., 12 April 1939) the assembly was convened. The other Roman numeral, XVII represents the seventeenth year of the Fascist Era, which started with the March on Rome in October 1922.
Contains 11 spots: own 0 – 0 unused, 0 used.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 |
King Zog & Airplane over Tirana |
5q (apr 1939) |
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A2 |
King Zog & Airplane over Tirana |
15q (apr 1939) |
|||
A3 |
King Zog & Airplane over Tirana |
20q (apr 1939) |
|||
A4 |
20q (aug 1939) |
||||
A5 |
5q (mar 1940) |
||||
A7 |
20q (mar 1940) |
||||
A6 |
15q (mar 1940) |
||||
A8 |
50q (mar 1940) |
||||
A10 |
2f (mar 1940) |
||||
A11 |
3f (mar 1940) |
||||
A9 |
1f (mar 1940) |
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.
