Stampsmurf, these are lovely stamps. Printed by photogravure, they were issued as a set of ten on 12 April, 1943. The first six values are the ones you list, in the design shown, but the set has a further four values for 1.25 lire, 1.75 lire, 5 lire and 10 lire. Be aware the Italians use the european notation of "1,25" where english speaking nations routinely use "1.25" to mean one and a quarter. I have pictured the 1.25l stamp below.
Two stamps in the set, the ones you mentioned, get the overprint two months later for Stamp Day. Held in the nearby Italian seaside town of Rimini, San Marino first issued overprints for Stamp Day in 1933 and did so on and off right up to the 1960s, sometimes even issuing special stamps instead of the overprint. Although the stamps are overprinted "1943" they are also overprinted "1642 d.F.R." because, peculiar as it may sound, Sam Marino has its own calendar. The days are the same but the years start from what is normally the year 301 A.D. which means the year 1943 is written as 1642 d.F.R. Just subtract 301 from the normal date. The abbreviation stands for "dalla fondazione della Repubblica", which is "from the founding of the Republic". Needless to say, although they persist with it, it never really caught on.
I see you have ten posts in eight years ... I hope you weren't put off by nobody replying to your question earlier.
Posted 07/06/2012 11:36 am
