Italy Stamps [6th Post] / Iran Stamps [3rd Post]

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To begin this post and before some talking about one Iranian stamp,let's have a quick look to 3  Famous Italian series from the beginning of the XX Century...

I would like to start with stamps from one series that is in fact "Two".!!... I'm talking of a group of 4 different designs , belonging in their original form to the 1911 series of the Jubilee of the Kingdom of Italy.. however, just one of them is part of that series, and it is presented above... it is a beautiful (the other are also Master works..) work of Augusto Sezanne and the engraving is as usual, a great work of Alberto Repettati ... the other 3 stamps (presented below) , are part of a surcharged issue of 1913... 
1911 "Jubilee of the Kingdom of Italy" (4) [Des (Augusto Sezanne)][Engr (Alberto Repettati)][Recess] Sc(119)

Great illustrations, all of them very classic and "old School" , of Enzo Morelli and Victorio Grassi...
Just to highlight a small detail, I now ask you to notice the surcharged label "2" in the 3 stamps...You will easily spot the presence of similar labels in the 5 and 10c stamps, and a different one in the 15c stamp....well, in fact , together with this difference there is another one that has to do with the spacing between labels (larger,close to 13.5mm, in the first two stamps and close to 12mm in the other one...)..just for example, I could say that the 15c stamp with wider spacing (13.5mm) has a higher cv...
1913 "Surcharge on 'Jubilee of the Kingdom of Italy'" (3) [Des (Enzo Morelli 5c)(Victorio Grassi 10c,15c)][Engr (Alberto Repettati)][Recess] Sc(126,...,128)

from 1921 we have a series commemorating the 6th Death Centenary of Dante Alighieri...

The stamps were designed by Giuseppe Cellini and [Typo] printed in Rome...despite the fact of the nonexistence of any remark in the catalogs about the better or worst centering of the stamps, it became very clear after seeing these particular 3 stamps, that well centered stamps were perhaps not so common... 

1921 "600th Anniversary of Dante's Death" (3) [Des (Giuseppe Cellini)][Typo (Rome)] Sc(133,...,135)

Now  our stamps are from a 1926 series  with focus in the life and work of St. Francis...among the illustrations , we have the Vision of St. Francis, the Monastery of St. Damien, the Assisi Monastery and the Death of St. Francis...there are 5 different illustrations ,, each one of them designed by a different Artist...the first 3 stamps are [Litho] printed and the last 3 one's are [Recess] printed... all the engravings , are again work of Alberto Repettati...The 20c,40c and 60c present us  a Wmk and perforation 14... all the other values have no Wmk and two possible perforations (13.5 or 11)

Many of the Commemorative stamps from this early period of the XX century are very beautiful... In fact we can say that all this period together with the one that starts in 1930 with the works of Corrado Mezzana are part of some of the High Points of European Philately...

1926 "700th Death Anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi" (6) [Des (Duilio Cambellotti 20c)(Giovanni Guerrini 30c,5L+2.50L)(A. Blasi 40c)(A. Rizzini 5L)(A. Del Neri 60c)][Engr (Alberto Repettati)][Litho (from woodcuts of Blasi 20c,40c,60c)][Recess (30c1.25L,5L+2.50L)] Sc(178,...,183)

Those who already know me better, for reading some of my previous posts, know that whenever I find a Mouchon stamp , I always share it with you , because it is not easy to track the Artist's life and Work...

The stamp I have to show you now is from Iran and from 1899, in my opinion part of his best period (1895 to 1900)

It is a very beautiful design from a series of 7 stamps with values from 1kr to 50kr...the frame work is very nice, the portrait also, a great stamp.!!.. SG only talks of engraving work by Mouchon ,but I think that we are in presence of a more complete work of Designing and engraving... if you notice, at the bottom center of the stamp, right below the label "Postes Persanes" , we can find Mouchon's signature ... 

I think that he wouldn't have place it with Central notoriety if he wasn't the author of all the work involved...

The illustration itself represents the Shah of Iran Muzaffer-Ed Din Shah Qajar (Reigned 1896/1907)

You can see that the stamp is damaged right in the center, below the Shah's neck , but it is the only one I've got,for now...!

1899 "Shah of Iran Muzaffer-Ed Din Shah Qajar" (7) [Des/Engr (Eugene Mouchon)][Typo(Typo (J. Enschedé, Haarlem)] Sc(147)

well, after another small post , and ending with one more Mouchon stamp, I will say that next time we will be travelling through the Middle East...

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Italy Stamps [5th Post]

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Before I start writing my posts , i usually use the "Labels" drop Down Menu at your right, to see what stamps I already have presented from the country I'm interested and specially what I have written in those posts...seeing the first posts I've made makes me think in two main subjects : the size of the posts and the level of detail... I can see that with time I chose to present many more stamps, and to talk a lot more about them, with some conversation about Designers, engravers, printers, etc... I feel like having walked a long way in just 2 years of blog....I don't know if this is the right approach , if this is the way to reach more viewers, if they are happy to 'have me around', but it is the way I want things to be , right now... the work in my 2 blogs at the same time , made me very conscious about the importance of a good catalog, and of all the information it provide us in order to get the "Big Picture", that I'm always looking.. to see things that happens in diverse places in the world , obeying  to the same rules, coincidences that are not coincidence , and so on.... I think that this is one the most appealing aspects of World wide Stamp Collecting...we are able to create a "Big Picture" , and there are , for sure, many "Big Pictures", depending of the Collector's  view.... this is interesting.!.. 

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Today I have Italian stamps from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's... I could pick these stamps and present them chronologically like I usually do, but this vast time frame is also the domain of Great Italian Designers and Engravers, so I decided to present the stamps from each one of them in different sections....

There are two things we should know about Italy stamps and Stamp Artists....As we easily know , Italy was the Birth Country of countless Great Artists from all branches of Art, since before the Roman Empire...Celebrating their lives and work is Omnipresent in Italian Philately, with many Designs of Paintings, Sculptures, Coins, etc...the other interesting thing to know is that Stamp Artists from Italy are also found in Vatican Philately, with many of the Great Italian Names of engraving and Stamp Designing presented there....

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In one of the previous posts with Italian stamps, I have presented some more stamps of this Great series...it has 19 stamps and with these I am presenting now, there are still 2 missing .. the first (50c) and the last (200l)....The Designer was Corrado Mezzana , for me one of the Best Stamp Designer's in the world.. ever!!!! he mastered  Architecture subjects, The Human Body, Landscapes, Weapons, Battles, Mythology , all of his designs are examples of extraordinary Technic and originality... His stamps Designing from the 30's for Italy is something really out of  the ordinary...!! I can say that if you have all his stamps, you are fortunate and probably wealthy...!  his series from the 30's are not common and sometimes reach high values today....(Well deserved, I must say!!) ... Religious Thematic is common in his work , not only for being a devoted Catholic but also for his work in the rehabilitation of many Religious Buildings.... this particular series is very cheap and common  and it is from the 50's , but it is well representative of his high quality Designs.... if you click on the name of the Artist , above , You will reach the 2 posts I've done yet in my ArtinStamps Blog , about him (with the stamps for Italy and Vatican)...

A curious detail about this series, is that the first 17 stamps are [Photo] printed and the last two (100 and 200l) are [Recess] printed (the one I present was engraved by Vittorio Nicastro,  and I have a section about him in this post , but I rather present this particular stamp in it's right place, next to other stamps from the same series...)

1950 "Provincial Professions" (19) [Des (Corrado Mezzana)][Recess (100l,200l)][Photo (others)] Sc(551,555,556,557,560,563,564,565,566)

Engraver [ Alceo Quieti ]

1960 (9) Sc(801)

1974 (2) Sc(1138)

1975 (3) Sc(1182)

1977 (2) Sc(1272)

1978 (1) Sc(2256)

This first small section show us some stamps engraved by Alceo Quieti ... Why an engraver and not focus on the Designing work , as usual... the answer is simple, because, most of the illustrations presented, are actually work of Classic Artists that do not  have worked  as stamp designers... their work was used to these particular stamps... so the stamp designer , only had to add the labels and the frames (when they exist..).. the real Art work of these stamps is made by the engraver, and this is why this time I will highlight  some of these great Artists commemorating their work  with a section of this post... I will not show any biographical data or make any considerations about the Artists... I will just show their Engraver work in these stamps...

Engraver[ Vittorio Nicastro ]

[Left][Right] 1958 (2) Sc(739,740)

[Left][Right] 1959 (2) Sc(763,764)

1959 (1) Sc(771)

1960 (2) Sc(794)

1968 (1) Sc(985)

1970 (1) Sc(1015)

1970 (1) Sc(1020)

1972 (1) Sc(1076)

1974 (1) Sc(1140)

1973 (1) Sc(1116)

1973 (1) Sc(1137)

Engraver [ R. Di Giuseppe ]

1973 (1) Sc(1090)

1973 (3) Sc(1131)

1973 (3) Sc(1132)

1973 (3) Sc(1133)

1976 (3) Sc(1228)

I had some more stamps to show but "Blogger" isn't helping... in my last posts I had problems with the fonts, particularly with the size's of the letters...this time , the images wont load where I want them to be, and all of this is making me very upset...Don't know what is happening...!
For the moment this is all I can do.... 

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World or Country

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As I said last week , our focus today is on the Italy 1906/1927  King Victor Emmanuel III Series.. first I just want to write some words about the quality of the stamps I use to present in this blog.. I know sometimes the stamps are not in the Best condition, with perforation problems, heavily canceled or just in General 'Bad shape'..this happens because of two main aspects: 1st) I really don't have the money to buy MNH in any kind of  auction, because as you all know classical and semi classical stamps are sometimes expensive or very expensive (in this condition..)..2nd) and this is the main reason : I am a world collector of stamps.. I do not wish to enter in excessive detail about any of the stamps I have and care.. I leave that for those who collect  just one or two countries.. It is that their main task.. to dig, search and know more and more about their election Countries Philately...I only want to have the stamps ( if in good condition, better!.) and have a general idea of the main issues of that country, it's printing preferences, the main series, the history, all of this to get an approximate idea of the "Big Picture" for the various periods of Time ...I could say that at this time I prefer quantity to quality, because in the future I can replace those stamps who are in bad condition .. and now You could ask, "Why don't you end , like everybody, this period of World collecting.. this way You will not end anything!" Yes, I could not end , entire countries, or even the periods I like the most in each country, but just from the start, I just wish to end series..! that's my main goal.. to end series! since the beginning, this all idea of World collecting was so serious that even the way I place the stamps in the Stock Albums is for you chaotic.. there is no countries, no years, no ideology, no boundaries , just ended series, one after the other, from different countries, all together... If I wanted to finish this way of seeing things , I would have an enormous work ahead of me..! so , I just continue..!

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King Victor Emmanuel III was born in 1869 and died in 1947..He had a long Reign (1900/1946) , and during all that time many things Happened.. Two world Wars, The rise and Fall of Mussolini's Fascism, The invasion of Ethiopia and Albania, etc...We could say that the series we will focus today was the 2nd series of designs with the King's Portrait...

This is a long series, if we are look at  it's time frame (1906/1927).. The series is composed of 5 different designs...

1st Design) 1906  "Right Portrait of King Victor Emmanuel III" (1) [Des (Francesco Paolo Michetti)][Engr/Recess (L'Officina Calcográfica Italiana, Rome)] Sc(93)

I present here 3 stamps from this individual series (just with one stamp) , just to show that there could be some differences in the shades of the background sky and sea colors..

In the classification of this design, we must have caution, because there will be another two, very similar, a redrawn issued in 1909/1916 (Typo) and a 2nd redrawn in 1911 (also a Recess Printing) and we will need to find major differences between them... The first thing we must analyse when he have several of these two similar Recess stamps is the perforation... this first and Original issue has Perf. 12..(it is a distinctive fact...only the 1906 issue has this perforation..).. these stamps could appear printed in thick or thin paper..

[Left] 1906 [Right] 1911

at the [Left] we have a picture focused on the Uniform's Collar of 1906 .. we can see that in it's right side (closer to the viewer...) it presents us a Star and in the other side something other than a star..

At the [Right] we can see the 1911 Uniform's Collar with two stars , one in each side of it..

At a first look , the crown seems identical in both issues, but in  a closer view we can start detecting differences..the 1906  Crown presents a very well defined and beautiful cross above the Crown; the Crown's design is much more detailed and perfect...the design in it's general is different in both cases..  

At the [Left] again, I want to highlight the number of lines that we can see departing from the back-most  part at the top of the white shirt...if we count the lines upwards we see 6 visible and well defined lines until we reach the ear..

in the 1911 issue , at the [Right] we see 8 clearly visible and well defined lines..

1st Design 1st Redrawn) 1909/1916 "Right Portrait of King Victor Emmanuel III" (2) [Des (Francesco Paolo Michetti)][Die Engr (Alberto Repetatti)][Typo (Officina Carte Valori, Torino)] Sc(112)

I don't have specific data about this , but in this small sample of 1916 stamps the paper is thin.. Unfortunately i don't have any stamp of 15c from 1909, because I would have all the Printings of the Slate 15c(1906,1909,and 1911)... Now to distinguish these typo stamp from the other two , it is very simple...

This typo issue have a very distinctive mark , and it is related with the Sun and the Crown... in this case , The sun touches the Superior frame, and in the other two cases , as you can see above, there is always a space between the sun and the frame...The Crown is also different from the other two, very similar to the 1906 issue but without the beautiful Cross in the top ( it has just a small cross, like in the 1911 issue..).. The Perforation is 13.5 or 14 ; the design is slightly smaller than the original (23mm instead of 25mm)

1st Design 2nd Redrawn) 1911 "Right Portrait of King Victor Emmanuel III" (1) [Des (Francesco Paolo Michetti)][Recess(Officina Carte Valori, Torino)] Sc(123)

These are some of the 1911 stamps , with background sky and sea with different shades and luminosity... Perforation could be 13.5 or 14 [ the design has 24mm instead of 25mm of the original]

2nd/3rd Design) 1906/1919 "Left Portrait of King Victor Emmanuel III" (3) [Des (Alberto Repettati)][Typo (Officina Carte Valori ,Torino)] Sc(94,95,96)

With this series , we return to a more classic approach , with the stamp again divided into Portrait and Frame ( a very classical one..).. These are both designs of Alberto Repettati, one of the major Italian Engravers...I am talking here of 2 designs because as You can see the 5c and 15c have one design and the 10c another one, differing in several points of the frame.. I have to say that the 5 and 10c were issued in 1906 and the 15c in 1919..

you can see by these pictures, that the frames differ in the upper corners, in the space connecting the two labeled interior frames, and in the Currency label, with the 10c closer to the exterior frame line  

Here are some of the color varieties in the 5c and 10c stamps.. in the 5c , we clearly see the light Green, the yellow green , the blue Green( a dull blue green..)  and the Normal Green and perhaps some intermediate colors.. in the 10c , we can see the claret, the rose, perhaps a red rose, and others.. I had more stamps to present but I only choose the more representative of something near a color variety...

4th/5th Designs) 1908/1927 "Left Portrait King Victor Emmanuel III" (14) [Des (Francesco Paolo Michetti)][Typo (OCV,Torino)] Sc(99,100,101,...,107,109)

The difference between these two designs is documented in the 2 pictures above..  The upper frame of the stamp has colored solid background and letters in white, or the upper frame has solid white background with letters of the color of the stamp...There are some stamps missing , but I also have some color variations..

Well, it is the end of this post...I've got nothing more to tell about these stamps.. sorry if there is any imprecision ... please comment if  You want.. Comments are always welcome..!

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