The 2 most recent issues of the Poster Stamp Bulletin contain articles on Italian Army Stamps. The best available catalog of these stamps is the Bertrand Catalog. Following are translations to English from French (or Italian), for selected text in that catalog: Memorial Philatélique Volume V Italie Vignettes Militaires written by Gustave Bertrand, copyright 1936, published by Yvert & Cie, Amiens, France 1936. Below are a foreword, an introduction by Italian author Rastrelli, a short passage before the Table of Contents titled ‘Observations’, and a postscript titled ‘Envoi’ by Bertrand. Translator’s notes are in [brackets] below.
FOREWORD “For instruction and amusement” [Pages vii-viii]
[The title of this page is the phrase S’instruire en s’amusant]
“One should not be ready for the war tomorrow, but today. We must become one nation, military and militarist . We will add, warlike.”
These so clear and so frank words, pronounced by M.Mussolini at the time of closure of the Italian operations of 1934, coincidéd with the advertisement of one emission of postage stamps to commemorate the centenary of the creation of Medal of Military Valor. Events, since precipitated with the conflict in Ethiopia; draw the attention of philatelists to the Italian army. [The obviously pro-fascist Bertrand is referring to the issue of a set of postal stamps by Italy, and the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy in 1935.]
This commemorative issue brings to light the splendid military labels issued to the glory of the Italian army, a little forgotten today, wrongfully. Their description will enable us to move forward in the knowledge of this prestigious country and of its military glories.
These labels have an official character & can be considered as the models of this kind. In his beautiful work on the “Adhesive labels”, which appeared in 1910, Mr. Chamboissier wrote: “on the initiative of his majesty V. Emmanuel II, Italy created for itself a very favorable movement by these emissions and each regiment has its particular stamp. These labels do not frank the letters but, stuck similarly to postage stamps, they are used as propaganda of the military spirit and for patriotism, while making known the actions of military units and their history. The soldier finds there a natural food for the sake of flag and leaders, and at the same time, the stamps circulate among the civil population, and develop in it a powerful interest which will support the army.” [Leon Chamboissier wrote an early book Les Vignettes adhésives Commemoratives , Paris 1910, with a 40 page essay & 60 page listing of dated stamps ].
But, to have effect, it was necessary that these stamps were as beautiful as possible, in order to strike the eyes and imagination better. It is right to note that this condition has been filled beyond all that one could desire. Nothing equals the richness of the drawn labels of many colors and in which gold and silver are in lavish abundance. The designs have been drawn by excellent artists and also by officers: MM. Faccioli, Guarneri, Marforelli, Dallolio, Viano, Martini, Abba, Monfrin, Viet, Olivetti and the captains Mezza, Galli, Ottolenghi, Corner and others still. Many labels are anonymous or carry only the initials of the artists.
The printing was entrusted to the most famous lithographers of the peninsula: Cantarella , Carlo Belloni, and Modiano of Milan, the Union of Brescia, Doyen of Turin, Mazzi of Rome, Lauzani of Alexandria, Ferrari of Venice, Passero of Udine, etc. It is especially Doyen, Mazzi and Cantarella, which firms printed the stamps as small masterpieces.
The king Emmanuel can thus be satisfied with a sound enterprise; thanks to him the art of the stamp has been elevated to a height that one did not suspect it could reach.
By the preceding one can judge the attraction that present the collection of these labels. How consequently to explain that they are not known outside of Italy? The reason is simple: the market was flooded with forged labels, and the the collector, being unable to recognize the fakes, has lost interest.
These falsifications, alas, were made in France by the Delandre house, specialists in military vignettes. The name of Delandre hid its reputation, having to its credit seven judgments for swindles. A new arrest took place in 1917, which put an end to the business. Delandre was not satisfied to imitate the labels in part; he created some and that complicates things. The forgeries are easily recognizable when one has points of comparison. Some are rather dangerous; we will indicate them all with similar documentation. Errors are always possible. We will call “forgery” the reproductions of official vignettes, and “fantasies” the labels created simply to sell to collectors. One solution would consist in ignoring these last productions, but this silence would have the inconvenience of leaving a doubt on the authenticity of the vignette, the omission of which could seem to constitute an oversight or ignorance..
We have, as a guide in our study, the catalogue by Hummel of Innsbruck, and also the work of Mr. Ernesto Rastrelli, of Naples, which is not only descriptive but also gives the history of the units of the Italian army. For the Delandre issues, we based ourselves on a catalogue emitted by this same house.
We particularly thank Mr. Rastrelli for having agreed to present the military labels to the readers of Memorial and to have assisted us with his advice and experience.
G. Bertrand – Montpellier, July 1935
A MORE THAN 30 YEAR COLLECTION [Introduction, pages ix-x]
Towards 1900 a beautiful collection was begun in Italy, that of the postcards and stamps of the Italian regiments.
There was a period of great activity: all the regiments and corps released stamps. A group of civilians gathered around a phalanx of officers and the exchange began, friendships were made. Today such a collection is very interesting. Soon they were researched abroad; In Munich in 1904 Mr. Hummel published a catalogue, very schematic, of our regimental stamps. In 1910 the lawyer of the Appeals Court of Paris, Mr. Chamboisier, in one news article on “Les Vignettes Adhesives” said: “the models of the genre are the stamps of the Italian Army.”
To find all these stamps, today, not is easy; many are unobtainable, especially of the regiments disbanded after the war and of the various armies, such as the beautiful series of that of the Duke of Aosta
In 1918, believing to fill a gap and wanting to provide an Italian catalogue, which had never been published, I set about this work under the auspices of the magazine of Bologna “l’Iride,” edited so passionately by Enrico Malferrari. The resulting small volume unfortunately was incomplete, in consequence of the indifference of many people who have not answered my call, obliging me to leave certain gaps. (by Ernesto Rastrelli – Catalogo Descrittivo die Bolli die Corpi, Uffici, Reggimenti dell’ Escercito Italiano – Bologna 1918).
These stamps do not have any value for postage, but they point out all our military history and sing each one their anthem. These small tableaux of different forms: oblongs, circles, rectangles which can appear only charming are, on the contrary, instead man-made flowers of sacred memories.
One of the oldest is that which was issued in 1902, by the Military College of Naples. The figure of Charles Emmanuel II is embossed in relief on a red stamp, of round form, of the first regiment of Grenadiers.
The 73rd Infantry reproduces the historic Fortress of Spoleto, from which boiling oil was poured on Hannibal’s soldiers.
‘Aosta la Veja’ is the motto of the 5th Infantry, and ‘Combattere con arte’ …remember the glories of SAN. Martino, Peschiera, and Cuneo (7th – 8th) those of Sommacampagna and Staffalo. Those of Castelfidardo remember the 10th Brigade Regina.
The Bersaglieri put on their stamps the trophies which frame the martial figure of their creator La Marmora. The Alpini put on theirs the weapons, axes, various tools and stylized rhododendron flowers. The cavalry with its mottos recalls the pages of the Brichetto, the festivities of Bassignano, the charges of Montebello, the page of ‘Trivio di Paradiso’ (November 1918) written by the new Aquila regiment.
Now the M.V.S.N. also has stamps; let us mention the 109th Legion, the 174th of Segesta, & 4th Legion of Railroads. [MVSN refers to fascist volunteer militia arising during the Mussolini era, so these 3 must date from 1923-1935].
Soon however, alongside the official stamps were found some created by greedy speculators and various collectors, while recognizing that they were not the real ones, some kept them in the collections, so that it is very difficult to discern– especially for the new collector– the true stamp from the forgery.
Mr. Bertrand wanted to dedicate the following pages to our stamps with a clear, exhaustive exposition and with rich illustrative material in this Fifth volume ‘Italy‘ of his truly superb well illustrated work, a “Philatelic Memorial” (as the stamps say). All collectors should get hold of this study by Bertrand, a true friend of Italy, who managed to overcome considerable difficulties in order to be able to distinguish the official stamps from the unofficial ones. This work cannot fail to fascinate and certainly many collectors will start a new collection. Bertrand’s pages are like a muster bell.
Ernestro Rastrelli
Naples, July 1935
OBSERVATIONS [Comments on page xii]
- Dimensions. – We usually give two dimensions. the first for the design, the second (in brackets) going from perforation to perforation. For round stamps, the first is the diameter of the outer circle. [in some cases a first diameter of the printed design is given, plus an outside diameter].
- Value. – As in our other volumes we do not indicate the value of the vignettes. We only indicate the degree of rarity by the three indications: R (rare), RR (very rare), RRR (most rare). The Delandre Forgeries have a value of 20 to 50 maximum. As for the fantasies: of those, which are only a unicolored reproduction, in reduced size, of the official labels there is no value; the others are worth 05 or 10 [value in centimes of the franc]. The real value of genuine stickers is quite high and can only increase rapidly.
- Dates of issue. – Despite our desire, we were unable to give the precise dates of the various issus. The dates are mainly between 1902 and 1908 for vignettes issued before the war.
POSTSCRIPT [Endnotes, page 329]
Many series of patriotic labels due to private initiative were emitted either during, or after, the last war. They all are interesting by their craftsmanship and their mottos or legends drawn from the works of popular authors. We cannot, however, give them a place in this work intended for military vignettes. [A pane of patriotic issues is shown above right as an example]
Our documentation at this point, is too imperfect besides; so later, after the necessary research and study for such an enterprise, if time allows us, we will be able to give a follow-up to this present volume and thus forge one more modest link in this Franco-Italian friendship that we will always want stronger, without clouds as without end.
[Mr. Bertrand’s hope of late 1935 that France and Italy would remain good friends was not to be. Italy made a pact with Germany in May 1939, just before Germany invaded Poland and then France.]
- Tom Minor
N.B. The passages shown here will eventually be moved into the Library as a long term reference for members only.
