Ionian Islands

The Ionia Islands, as occupied by Italy from 1941 to 1943 – during World War II when they were part of the Axis forces with Germany – included the islands of Corfu, Paxos, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cephalonia, and Zante. For some of these islands, separate overprint stamps were issued. I will be adding pages for them when I have time to design and make the pages.

Imperial Series

The top set of stamps are part of an imperial issue of definitives that the Fascists ordered from the Italian post office. They were meant to remind the public that the peninsula of Italy was at one time the home base of an empire and therefore it’s acceptable and natural for them to take foreign lands to build a new empire. The other stamps in this series also reminded the public of who was the king: Vittorio Emanuele III.

Air Mail

The single stamp on the fourth row is from the Imperial Rome series on the previous page, except this one is an air mail stamp. It depicts Pegasus from Greek mythology. I’m not sure if there’s an equivalent in Roman mythology with a different name, other than Pegasos.

New Postage Due Design

These postage due stamps are a newer from 1934. They’re bland, albeit brighter in colors compared to postage due stamps from previous decades – from the peninsula. At their center is the crest for the king and the house of Savoy. But the royal crest is flanked by fasces, the symbol of Mussolini’s National Fascist Party – much like the key is hemmed in by the Fascists.

Note

For the Ionian Islands, since the occupation was only a few years, there weren’t many stamps issued for their exclusive use. There were eight regular postage stamps, one air mail stamp, and four postage due stamps. They were all overprinted with the words, Isole Jonie – Italian for Ionian Islands. I have all of them. Now that I see the stamps on these two pages, I think I can easily merge them into one page.

Contains 13 spots: own 13 – 13 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Feb 5, 2025

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

Overprint: Isole Jonie

1.1	✓	2	Caesar Augustus	10c (sep 1941) definitive, dark brown
1.2	✓	1	Capitoline Wolf	5c (sep 1941) definitive, sepia
1.3	✓	3	Julius Caesar	20c (sep 1941) definitive, carmine
2.1	✓	5	Vittorio Emanuelle III	30c (sep 1941) definitive, dark brown
2.2	✓	6	Vittorio Emanuelle III	50c (sep 1941) definitive, violet
3.1	✓	4	Vittorio Emanuelle III	25c (sep 1941) definitive, green
3.2	✓	7	Vittorio Emanuelle III	75c (sep 1941) definitive, carmine
3.3	✓	8	Vittorio Emanuelle III	1.25₤ (sep 1941) definitive, blue

Air Mail

4.1

✓

A1

Pegasus

50c (sep 1941)
air mail, dark brown

Postage Due: Overprint Isole Jonie

5.1	✓	S4	Savoy Crest & Fasces	10c (sep 1941) postage due, blue
5.2	✓	S2	Savoy Crest & Fasces	20c (sep 1941) postage due, carmine
5.3	✓	S3	Savoy Crest & Fasces	30c (sep 1941) postage due, orange red
5.4	✓	S4	Savoy Crest & Fasces	1₤ (sep 1941) postage due, orange

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.