San Marino Stamp – The-Philatelist

Staying independent is job one for a small state. Sometimes modifying behavior to get along is necessary. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here is something you never see on a postage stamp, the state prison. Now San Marino’s prison was really an ancient fortress on a hill so worth a look. The year before though, there was a political murder that threatened relations with Italy. Showing the prison may make the point that San Marino could handle any crime itself.

Todays stamp is issue A24, a 5 Centesimi stamp issued by San Marino in 1922. It displayed the Roca state prison and was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 unused.

San Marino and Vatican City were the only city states that maintained their independence during the unification of Italy in the 1860-70s. The people are Italian and the population is small. After the devastation of World War I, politics in Italy turned toward the extremes. This was understandable as mainstream politics had just been completely discredited by the war, not just in Italy. San Marino had remained neutral in that war but did not completely avoid the wars deprivations or the political radicalization. In 1921 radical leftists murdered a prominent doctor, Carlo Bosi, who was known to have fascist views. This greatly angered Italians and there was a great fear that San Marino would be invaded by gangs of Squadrismo. Squadrismo were localized groups of blue shirted fascist that often responded in kind to Socialist violence, they were right wing rivals to Mussolini’s black shirts. Among methods they were known for was forcing people to take castor oil a strong laxative, leaving victims naked tied to a tree, and made to swallow a live toad. San Marino quickly asked the Italian state police to send 30 officers to help keep the peace. In 1923 a fascist government was elected and a government was formed under a fascist who had voluntarily fought for Italy in World War I.

Once elected radicals become undemocratic and the fascists remained ensconced until 1943 when the fascists fell in Italy. It was then the turn of the communists to get elected and then overstay their welcome. There was a governing crisis in 1957 when the communist lost their majority but refused to yield power until threatened with violence from Italy.

Rocca prison on todays stamp ceased being a prison in the early 1970s. It is now a tourist attraction as an 11 century fortification. It regularly fires off 19th century cannons to the delight of spectators. San Marino, now quite wealthy is somewhat known to have very few prisoners. So few that it is easier to have their food catered by a restaurant than maintain a cafeteria. There are periods where a prison sentence means solitary confinement because there are no other prisoners. What happens when a small town is it’s own country.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the diplomats of San Marino. It must require the great skill of many generations of diplomats to keep San Marino from being swallowed. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have a stamp today that demonstrates something that has happened quite a bit in stamp history. The politics of a place can change much faster that the stamps issued.

This is a strange stamp. The stamp originally celebrates newspapers, in particular the party newspaper of the San Marino Fascist party. Given the subject matter, I am amazed they were not just thrown away when the politics changed. Instead an overprint is added making the stamp a celebration of an officially declared stamp day. Has anyone seen two more divergent captions on the same stamp. It was a common issue in San Marino in 1943. There was another stamp to celebrate 20 years of fascist rule that when that rule came to an end right before the stamp came out a lower case d was added to the stamp making it celebrate the end of 20 years of fascist rule.

The stamp today is issue A38, a 50 centessimi stamp issued by the city state of San Marino on July 1st. 1943. It is part of a two stamp issue honoring the newspapers of San Marino. The stamp is worth 25 cents in it’s mint condition according to the Scott catalog. It must be a common stamp to have such a low value and San Marino stamps have always been mainly produced for philatelists. With what was going on at the time of issue and the crazy overprint, The Philatelist finds this stamp seriously undervalued.

San Marino is a small, mountainous, landlocked city state that chose not to join Italy when a central government formed the Italian empire around 1870. Instead it continued to govern itself on principles derived from the Roman Republic. One aspect of this is that it has two heads of state at a time. It is one of the wealthiest places in the world per capita with finance and tourism being at the center of the economy. It is one of the only places where postage stamps are an important product.

During the two world wars in the 20th century, San Marino’s independence from Italy was most threatened. In World War I, San Marino announced herself neutral. Italy was angered and assumed San Marino would become a hotbed of Austrian spies. In frustration San Marino’s phone service was cut off. In World War II, despite San Marino’s fascist government, the country again declared it’s neutrality. Over and over. First the New York Times declared San Marino declared war on Britain. Not true. In July 1944, the British bombed San Marino assuming the Germans occupying surrounding Italy had entered San Marino. Not true. Then the battle for Italy came close to San Marino and the Germans entered San Marino to control a road and so to have artillery observers on the mountain. Units of the Indian army fighting with the British army pushed the Germans out after a battle and quickly left.

The politics changed in San Marino in an instant. Two days after Mussolini left power, the San Marino fascist party was deposed. In 1945, San Marino became the first country to freely elect a communist government. The Roman system stayed in effect through both extremes.

Well my drink is empty, and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Was San Marino right to go ahead with this stamp after the government changed? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.