1951.ITA.01Florence gymnastics festivals 1951 — Giglio and exercise machines
Italy·1951
Commemorative set for festivals and international gymnastic competitions, Florence 1951 (F.G. '51)
Series details
Identity
- CodeSeries code YYYY.ENT.SS — year, 3-letter issuing entity, sequence (e.g. 1900.CGH.01).
1951.ITA.01- EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
- Italy (ITA)
- Year
- 1951-05-18
- Event
- Commemorative set for festivals and international gymnastic competitions, Florence 1951 (F.G. '51)
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Commemorative
Production
- Designer
- Edmondo Pizzi; Romolo Pierbattista
- Printer
- IPS Officina Governativa Carte Valori
- Process
- Photogravure
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- 14¼ × 14
Catalog numbers
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- IT 574; IT 575; IT 576
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- IT 834; IT 835; IT 836
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- IT 599; IT 600; IT 601
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- IT 787; IT 788; IT 789
History
On 18 May 1951 Italy issued a three-value commemorative set for the festivals and international gymnastic competitions held in Florence (Feste e Concorsi Ginnastici Internazionali, Firenze 1951 — F.G. '51). Colnect titles the common design «Giglio and exercise machines»: the Florentine giglio (fleur-de-lis) above gymnastic apparatus, with the competition monogram.
The three face values, all photogravure by the Officina Governativa Carte Valori after designs by Edmondo Pizzi and Romolo Pierbattista, are 5 lire brown and red (Scott IT 574 / Michel IT 834), 10 lire green-blue and red (Scott IT 575 / Michel IT 835), and 15 lire navy blue and red (Scott IT 576 / Michel IT 836). Format about 24 × 40 mm, perforation 14¼ × 14, watermark winged wheel. Print runs are about 226,800–226,800 for each value. The set had one of the shortest postal lives in Italian philately: issued 18 May 1951 and withdrawn only 28 days later, on 16 June 1951.
For Scouts-on-Stamps collectors the interest is the giglio / fleur-de-lis — Florence’s civic lily and the same emblematic form as the Scout fleur-de-lis — dominating a national sports commemorative. All three values are catalogued here in rising face-value order and are in the collection.