Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Missing D's-Dalmatia

1919 Scott 1 1 corona on 1l brown & green
Issued under italian Occupation
Quick History
Now in present day Croatia, Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast was a former crownland of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. In May 1919, Italy issued surcharged Italian stamps for the part of Dalmatia it occupied during WWI. Between 1919-1922, eight regular, two special delivery, and four postage due stamps were issued. The occupied territory was 110 square miles, with a population of 19,000 in 1921. The capital was Zara. The Territory was annexed by Italy fairly quickly, so used stamps are generally higher valued.

The '47 & '41 editions include Dalmatia
Big Blue Picture
The postal stamps of Dalmatia are not represented in the '69 or '97 editions, but are present in the '47 and '41 editions just after the Cyprus section.

The '47 and '41 editions, on one line, have 5 stamp spaces. As noted, the Scott Classic specialized catalogue has 14 major stamp descriptions for regular, special delivery, and postage due categories during 1919-1922. These are all surcharged Italian stamps with a sans serif typeface. The typeface will distinguish the almost identical Italian issues used in occupied Austria.

The catalogue valuation for the five stamps is $1+-$2+, so cost must not have been the reason Dalmatia was dropped. Reviewing the catalogue selection, I found four more stamps that could be added by the Big Blue collector.

Additionals...
1919 (Italy 87 surcharged)
Scott 1 1 cor on 1 l brown & green($2+)

1921-22 (Italian stamps of 1901-10 surcharged)
Scott 6 1 cor on 1 l brown & green ($2+) "1 corona"

Postage Due
1922 (Italian postage due surcharged)
J1($1+)
J2($2+)

1850 map of Austrian Dominions, including Croatia and Dalmatia
Big Blue Checklist
1921 (Italian stamps of 1906-08 surcharged)
Scott 2 5c on 5c green ($1+) "5 centesimi di corona"
Scott 3 10c on 10c claret ($1+)
Two blank spaces: suggest Scott 4 25c on 25c blue($2+) and Scott 5 50c on 50c violet($2+)

Special delivery
1921 (Italian special delivery stamp E1 surcharged)
Scott E1 25c on 25c rose red ($2+) "25 centesimi di corona"

Kinds of Blue
As noted, these occupation stamps were dropped in the '97 and '69 editions, but a five stamp selection is in the '47 and '41 editions.

Dalmatia has surcharged Italian stamps with a sans serif typeface. 
The typeface will distinguish the almost identical Italian issues used in occupied Austria
Big Blue Bottom Line
Should be easy to add these stamps back on a supplemental page.

Note: Map appear to be in the public domain.

Note:If you have a comment, I would like to hear from you!

Note: prices are roughly binned; for actual prices, consult a Scott catalogue.


2 comments:

  1. As you pointed out, Italian Occupation stamps were catalogued under DALMATIA, but I always wondered why Scott decided to list this issue as a separate country (i.e. Sc 1-8)? On the overprint, Italy didn't even bother to designate it as "Dalmatia". Why wouldn't Scott list it as "YUGOSLAVIA - DALMATIA - Italian Occupation", and assign it with "N", prefixed, catalog numbers? This is how Scott listed the Italian Occupation issues of LJUBJANA. It seems inconsistent to me.

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    Replies
    1. The short answer is I don't know why, Gina. ;-)
      I notice Scott may start out with a category (or term for it) initially, and then keep it in the catalogues as such, even though it begs a change.

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