Italy Venezia Tridentina stamps year 1918 set

Italy Venezia Tridentina stamps year 1918 mint hinged set

The 1918 Venezia Tridentina issue is one of the classic post–World War I occupation/transition stamp sets of Italy.

📜 Historical Context

• Issued after the collapse of Austria-Hungary in late 1918.
• The region Trentino (Venezia Tridentina) was annexed by Italy.
• To maintain postal service, Italy overprinted existing stamps rather than printing new ones immediately.

There are actually two closely related groups from this period:

1️⃣ Austrian stamps overprinted (Nov 1918)

• Overprints like “Regno d’Italia – Trentino / Venezia Tridentina – 3.XI.18”
• Often rarer, especially high values.

2️⃣ Italian stamps overprinted with Austrian currency (Dec 1918)

• Italian definitives overprinted with:
  • “Venezia Tridentina”
  • Values in heller / corone (Austrian currency still in use)

🧾 The Main 1918 Set (Italian stamps overprinted)

The most collected “set” is the series of 9 values issued 20 December 1918:

• 1 centesimo (brown)
• 2 centesimi (red)
• 5 centesimi (green)
• 10 centesimi (rose)
• 20 centesimi (orange)
• 40 centesimi (brown)
• 45 centesimi (olive green)
• 50 centesimi (violet)
• 1 lira (brown & green)

👉 These are standard Italian stamps with “Venezia Tridentina” overprint.

🔍 Key Varieties Collectors Look For

• Overprint types
  • Thick vs thin letters
  • Position shifts (up/down, doubled)
• Currency surcharges
  • Heller vs centesimi variants
• Local issues (Bolzano, etc.)
  • Small print runs → more valuable
• Errors
  • Inverted overprints
  • Missing overprint
  • Double overprint