30 lire
Sassone 15
Republic of Italy <<-- : -->> Trieste Zone B
Most values of the series were issued on 1st October 1947, but the 8 lire, 10 lire orange and 30 lire came out on 1st March 1948. The 10 lire grey was replaced as it was extensively forged at the time.
The 30 lire is the key stamp of the set.
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30 lire |
Three stamps were issued in this set: 25 lire orange on April 16th, 60 lire blue on December 31st, and 80 lire carmine, also on 31st December.
There are two types of the 60 lire blue. In the first, Type 1, the engraving was rather weak, especially for the angel at the top left and the rocks at the top of the picture. In Type 2 this was corrected by deeper engraving.
This variation is found for Italy as well as Trieste Zone A. In the latter case Type 1 is rare. For Italy, despite identical catalogue values, I have yet to find an example of Type 1.
On the left is Type 1, while on the right is Type 2.
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Close-ups of the relevant parts, Type 1 at the top. |
In the case of the 80 lire, there are a range of varieties. Two types of paper were used, one being white in colour, and the other parchment coloured. The usual perforation is 13¼ line, but extremely rare copies are known with a comb perf 14. The latter is probably the rarest stamp in the Trieste Zone A series.
Left: parchment paper, line perf 13¼.
Centre: white paper, line perf 13¼. Right: comb perf 14.
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The 50 lire violet air mail stamp was first issued with the Trieste overprint on 1st October 1947. On the 5th December 1949 it was re-issued with a smaller overprint printed in Turin.
On the 13th August 1954 it was reissued on whiter Type 3 paper with a modified overprint having a noticeably shorter hyphen. As the use of Trieste stamps ceased 3 months later, this is a scarce stamp.
Modified overprint |
The 15 lire and 30 lire express stamps were first issued with the large Trieste overprint on 1st October 1947. Two further values, 25 lire and 60 lire, were issued on 1st March 1948. Later that year a commemorative 35 lire stamp celebrating the Centenary of the 1848 Revolution appeared.
The 60 lire was reissued with the smaller Turin overprint on 27th September 1950.
On 4th February 1952 the 50 lire appeared, also with the smaller Turin overprint, and with Winged Wheel Type 1 watermark. In December 1953 it was reissued with Winged Wheel Type 3 watermark.
Express Stamps
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There are four main varieties of the Trieste Zone A 20 lire Recapito Autorizzato stamp first issued in 1952.
The first has the watermark Winged Wheel Type I, and occurs with only one orientation, DB, where the point on the winged wheel points down and is on the right when seen from the back (DB stands for destra bassa). The overprint is type X/C (type X sub-type C) as shown in the illustration below, and has a longish hyphen. The issue date was 4th February 1952.
First type |
Watermark Winged Wheel Type I DB |
The second and third have the watermark Winged Wheel Type III, also with overprint type X/C, but with two orientations, DB as above, and also a very rare SB (sinistra bassa) with the wing point also pointing down but on the left side, again as viewed from the back. The issue date was 15th April 1952.
Winged Wheel Type III is rounder and far more distinct than Type I.
Type III DB |
Type III SB |
The fourth and scarcest variety was issued on 5th October 1954, just 41 days before the Trieste stamps were withdrawn from use on 15th November 1954. This also has the watermark Winged Wheel Type III (orientation DB), but a new overprint was used, type X/D, with a noticeably shorter hyphen, as shown in the illustration below.
Fourth Type |
Details of the overprints for comparison:
Top: Type X/C overprint; long hyphen. |
The first issue of parcel stamps in 1947 had A.M.G. on one line with F.T.T. below on each of the two halves. These were replaced in 1949 with stamps overprinted AMG-FTT on one line. In 1952, some values appeared with Winged Wheel type 3. Finally, in 1954, a new 100 lire value was issued which comes in two forms, one comb perforated and the other line perforated.
The high values of the first set are difficult to find, with the 200 lire scarcest of all.
Top: 200 lire |
Republic of Italy <<-- :
-->> Trieste Zone B
Trieste Area Index
Main Italian Stamps Index
