388. Auktion

ITALY CAMPAIGN: 1859, folded lettersheet to Alexandria, Egypt, written in Triest and transmitted via forwarding agent to France (instead of the Austrian Lloyd, the eastern postal route being severed due to the military operations), franked at the triple rate with Napoleon 10 c., 20c. 40 c. and 80 c. (cut in) all tied with PC “1896” (Marseilles) and handed over to the ship “Simois” from the Messageries Impériales, reverse arrival cds. “ALEXANDRIE EGYPTE 22 MAI 59”. Interesting text in Italian “the departure of Austrian steamships is prohibited … my correspondence, having to take indirect routes, will arrive late and irregularly”; some minor transportation traces and a vertical archival fold away from the adhesives, fine and rare. A delightful item and poignant testimony to the Risorgimento vicissitudes

1577, papal vellum manuscript issued in Rome in official curial script, addressed to the Vescovo (Bishop) of Pistoia in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, headed “GREGORIUS PP. XIII.”. From the pontificate of Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, 1502–1585), head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1572 to 1585, best known for initiating the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582. Fine and historically significant papal document. Certificate Bolaffi (2008).

1856, 50 b. blue with 2 b. olive green tied by overlapping diamond cancellations on a complete, freshly preserved collector's folded letter with full content, alongside local ‘ROMA 3.1.1856’ cds., ‘ROMA FRANCA’ and red decorative oval ‘A FRANCA’, addressed to Luciano Serra/ Duca di Cardinale/ Palazzo Paliano/ Napoli with red arrival mark on reverse. 50 b. tiny closed at bottom, otherwise absolutely flawless, fantastically fresh with part of the neighbouring stamp on the right in an equally effective and rare combination. Certificate E. Diena (1989)

1852, 6 baj. on greenish grey and two pairs 8 baj. black, mostly good to large margins, tied by grid cancel to entire letter from Rome 1857 via France and England to Rio de Janeiro with transit marks on front and reverse. Small paper fault in the outer letter at left, otherwise fine and fresh for this destination. Letters from Europe to Brazil during this period are exceedingly rare.

1859, 80 c. bistre-olive, fresh colour, good to large balanced margins, unused without gum, very fine, opinion Colla (2025)

1847, “TORINO 3. LUG” on folded letter forwarded to Bäle and again to Biella (Piemont), with black “VIA DI GANOBBIO”, red “DOPO LA PARTEZA”, the swiss post noted a credit of “80” c., in Canobio they noted “Carcio ticinese Cmi 80”, scarce

1851, King Emmanuel II 40 c. lilac rose, two fresh examples of this rare shade, margins shaved or touched to large, each tied by mute cancel to folded entire to Thann, France with alongside departure cds. “TORINO”, red “P.D.” and transit cds. “PONT DE BEAUVOISIN 6 MARS 1853”, reverse transit via Lyon and arrival “THANN 9 MARS 1853”. One 40 c. with a strong paper crease, still a fine, very rare and attractive franking, slightly overpaid at the previous 1844 postal convention, certificate Bottacchi AIEP (2024) (Sassone-Nr. 3d)

1819, letter sheet from Messina to Palermo, endorsed "con Staffettiglia" and taxed upon arrival with "8" Grana; adjacent control handstamp of the lieutenancy of Palermo. Fine and very scarce.

1840, "STAFFETTA GIONNALIERA", clear oval handstamp with adjacent straight line "MESSINA", on entire letter, dated inside "5 Mai 1840", via Naples to Lyon, France, with arrival mark. "40" Grana payment noted on reverse. A rare letter of the short lived express service.

1840, "Stafetta giornaliera", oval handstamp in red, with adjacent "FRANCA N" on letter sheet from Naples to Messina, with red dispatch mark and manuscript fee of "60" Grana on reverse. Fine and scarce. 

1840, "STAFFETTA", oval handstamp in red, with adjacent "FRANCA" on letter sheet from Palermo to Naples, with red dispatch- and arrival marks on reverse. Fee of "20" Grana noted on reverse. Fine and scarce. 

1930, Vergil 50 c.-9 l. cpl. on registered airmail cover with cds. BOLZANO FERROVIA 9.12.30" to Brussels with receiving cds., fine, scarce

1941, German-Italian Axis unissued 10 c.-25 c., complete in blocks of four with right sheet margin, mint never hinged, the 25 c. tiny tear in the selvedge and one adhesive with disturbed gum, otherwise very fine (Sassone-Nr. 457A-C)

1961, Gronchi Flight 205 l. rose lilac, fresh colours, unmounted mint, very fine and scarce, signed Calves

1875, official double card 15l., used back and forth with cds. “POZZOULI 10 … 76” with text, toned and transportation wear, the card was intended for postal correspondence with mayors

1943, 5 c. -1 l., 1,75-50 l. and airmail 25 c.-5 l. with overprint “G.N.R.”, 26 different stamps, mint never hinged, verfy fine, a.o. sign. Colla with two certificate (2025) for Verona or Brescia prints

1946, 2 l. in vertical pair, the lower adhesive with variety “overprint on reverse” (due to a defective printing which left a large production-related tear), the adhesive above with variety “missing V.G”, mint never hinged, very fine and spectacular duo, signed and certificate SPC (2024)

1945, special presentation folder 'Corpo Polacco' with Polish Eagle and opening lines of the national anthem on front cover, with stamps and all three souvenir sheets inside adhered to ten numbered pages, with text in Polish, French, English and Italian, very fine, only 2,000 printed in Rome and presented to various diplomats and officials.

1909, Durazzo 4 pia. on 50 c. pale violet tied by cds. “DURAZZO 20.1.16” to registered cover with censor mark and labels to Podgorica, Montengro and retour with two labels in orange “..-N'A PU ÊTRE ATTEINT S.P. Bordeaux” and in green “RETOUR A L'ENVOYEUR S.P. Bordeaux”. The cover horizontal folded, otherwise fine

1807, “MILANO 6” in black, together with red “LL MILANO” on complete folded letter via Paris and Verviers to Franchimont, rated “19” d., dated 6. June 1807 inside, scarce, black straight-line unrecorded by van der Linden

1854/1900, 10 covers, 9 postal stationerys and 7 piece with imperf stamps and pairs, including Ninove 271, four PD covers 1867/70 to Swisse with clear numeral cancellations, oval Moxhon Notteire on stationery from Liege 1874, plus four stampless covers from Italy 1861 ‘via di mare’, fine group.

1855/2000 (ca.), mint never hinged/unused and used collection with duplicates, including Officials, Postage Dues, Parcel stamps and Italian Areas, fine group of Italian States with some better values and duplicates throughout, later issues with some better sets like Mi.-Nr. 183-185, 439-444 unused, Parcel stamp Mi.-Nr. 2 unused, etc., together with a selection of Vatican 1929/2000 including souvenir sheets, San Marino 1877/2002 with Postage Dues, the condition somewhat mixed especially in the early issues, a few reprints or forgeries noted as to be expected. An interesting assembly, neatly housed in 6 stockbooks

1852/60, Collection on eight album pages with good parts Papal States, Modena and Sicilia, only few reprints, mostly fine. Sicilia with good unused part, ½ gr. to 20 gr. denominations represented, though note a handful of multiples, with myriad shades for the specialist to further study. Many stamps signed G. Bühler, Raybaudi and Diena, some faulty or dubious examples to be expected, but good quality to what is often found, many four-margin examples among the imperforates, overall fresh and fine or better. 

1860/2000(ca.,) mostly use collection with duplicates and better items on album pages in folder

1862/1945, mostly used collection, incl. e.g. Mi.-Nr. 9a, 49, 95-98, 153-156, and many issues from the 1920s/30s. Later the advertising fields are almost complete, further BLP on card, insurance stamps Sass. Nr. 12+13(2) and 14+17 on excerpt, signed Raybaudi, also postage due Mi.-Nr. P1 in used pair with good margins, etc., 24 Certificates, good condition, in four hingeless GBE albums