Stamp_&_Coin_Mart_2016_01_

48 JANUARY 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Fact  le

C

ollecting dead

country stamps

(or any type of

stamps for that

matter) requires the

ability to identify

differences between similar looking

issues. The stamps issued during the

Italian occupation of Dalmatia are often

confused with general issue occupation

stamps used in Italian areas of the

former Austro Hungarian empire.

This month, we explain how to easily

distinguish the differences to properly

identify the Dalmatia issues. First a

little background.

Dalmatia is the coastal region along

the northeastern shore of the Adriatic

Sea, which today is part of Croatia.

For millennia, Dalmatia was a strategic

region for trade, and over the centuries

was ruled by various regimes, including

Rome, the Republic of Venice, and

France. After the defeat of France in the

Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Dalmatia fell

under the Austrian Empire.

At the onset of the First World War,

Italy was initially allied with Germany

and Austria-Hungary. However, in a

secret pact signed on 26 April, 1915

In his ongoing series on the stamps of forgotten countries and territories, Michael Adkins examines a

small group of stamps issued during a very tumultuous and significant time in modern Italian history

with Great Britain, France and Russia,

the Kingdom of Italy, agreed to join

the ‘Triple Entente’ and declare war

on Austro-Hungary and Germany. In

return, Italy was promised territory after

the war, including northern Dalmatia,

the Austrian Littoral region and Istria.

At the end of the war, the Italians,

expecting to take the agreed territory,

immediately landed troops in Zara

(Zadar) and began occupying regions

of Dalmatia. Unfortunately, the

London pact was nullified by the

Treaty of Versailles, primarily because

USA President Woodrow Wilson

did not support the Italian claims to

many of the territorial expansions

in the agreement. In the end, Italy

was only awarded small tracts of

Austrian territories, and was required

to evacuate the areas it held in the

majority of Dalmatia. This caused

the Italian negotiator at the talks,

Vittorio Orlando, to storm out of the

conference in anger.

Finally, the Treaty of Rapallo (12

November, 1920) was signed between

Italy and the newly created Kingdom

of the Croats, Serbs and Slovenes

which awarded most of Dalmatia to the

Yugoslavs except Istria, Zara (Zadar)

and a handful of islands.

Outrage spread across Italy, many

believing they fought a meaningless war

with no benefit to the nation. Known

as the mutilated victory (Italian: vittoria

mutilata), the chaos in Italy culminated

in the ‘March on Rome’ in October,

1922, resulting in the overthrow of

the Italian government and the rise

to power of Benito Mussolini and the

Fascists in Italy.

Collecting stamps from the

Dalmatia Occupation is rather

simple, as there are only a handful of

Dead Countries

stamps to accumulate, all of which

are not too difficult to find. Many

collectors include the Dalmatia stamps

in a broader collection of Italian

Occupational stamps such as Venezia

Giulia, Trieste, Trentino and the

general Austria Occupational issues.

Immediately after the First World

War, the Italians moved into the

regions of Dalmatia and Austria that

they expected to be awarded. On 1

May, 1919, occupational forces issued

a single stamp surcharged ‘una corona’

for use in Dalmatia. Koruna (corona

in Italian) was the local currency of

the regions of the former Austrian

Empire. While this single stamp

was surcharged in a serifed font, the

rest of the issues for Dalmatia were

surcharged in a font without serifs.

This makes it easy to distinguish

the stamps of Dalmatia from stamps

surcharged for other Austrian areas

occupied by Italy, which always

surcharged in fonts with serifs.

After the treaty of Rapallo, the

Italians withdrew to the agreed

borders, and issued an additional

seven stamps for general use by

the local post offices in the region.

Although issued in local currency, the

surcharges matched the face value of

the Italian issues (such as 5 corone on

5 lira). In addition to the general issue

stamps, one Express Mail stamp and

four Postage Due stamps were issued

for use in Zara.

In 1922, an Express Mail stamp was

surcharged ‘LIRE 1.20 DI CORONA’,

which was an error. The stamp was

never issued, but some quantity was

sold to the philatelic market.

The Dalmatia overprints were valid

until 19 June, 1924 when they were

replaced with stamps of Italy.

The Italian occupation of Dalmatia

Government: Italian Occupation

Administration

Prior Regime: Austro Hungarian Empire

Key Dates:

November 1918 - WW1 ends, Italy

send troops to occupy Zara (Zadar)

and northern Dalmatia

28 June, 1919 - Treaty of Versailles signed, Italy not given Dalmatia

12 November, 1920 - Italy signs Treaty of Rapallo, agrees to

give up Dalmatia except Zara and a few islands

Following Regime: Kingdom of the Croats, Serbs & Slovenes

First Stamp Issued: 1 May, 1919

From left: Between July

and October 1921, Italy

issued an Express Mail

stamp for use in Zara •

In October 1922, four

Postage Due stamps

were issued for Zara

• Other than the ‘una
  corona’ issue, all stamps
  surcharged for Dalmatia
  use a non-serif font (left),
  easily distinguished from
  stamps issued for other
  parts of Italian-occupied
  Austria (right) • Below,
  from left: the fi rst two
  stamps ‘una corona’ and
  ‘1 corona’ in a single line
  were issued Dalmatia.
  The third stamp was
  issued in other Austrian
  occupational areas

Find out more about ‘Dead Country’ stamps at: dcstamps.com

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