50 lire Roman States Stamp and Stage Coach (Silver Copy)

Ok, time to take a closer look on some my silver stamps I got a few days ago.

Let's pick one in random:

Hmm... 🧐

Looks like we have a coach and the wording suggests it's tied to the Vatican city.

Well, before dwelling more let's have a look on the original stamp. Remember, this is just a silver copy, duh

So, after a bit of googling it turns out this is a copy of a stamp known as "50 lire Roman States Stamp and Stage Coach".

It was issued on June 9, 1952, Vatican City to commemorate the centenary of the first Roman States postage stamp. A total of 225,000 stamps were issued and they were valid for use until December 31, 1953.

The design features a mail coach and driver pulled by four horses and reproduces a Roman States stamp design with the papal insignia and the value of 50-bajocchi.

Bajo what?

That's the plural of the word of baiocco, an ancient Italian currency denomination largely used in Central Italy.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Its value was originally equivalent to a shilling, slowly changing through centuries into five quattrini, or consequently twenty pennies.

The size, weight and value of the coin itself changed over time.

At a certain point, towards the middle of the 16th Century, it became so thin that it deserved the nickname "Baiocchino" or "Baiocchétto" because it actually weighed less than 0.25g source and further reading

I asked Bard about some real life examples to give me a feeling of how it faired over time, here's what I got:

In the 18th century, a cup of coffee in Rome cost about 3 baiocchi.

In the 19th century, a postage stamp in the Papal States cost 6 baiocchi.

In 1613, the Roman Senate ordered that the price of bread should be fixed at 8 baiocchi per pound.

In 1725, the Papal States government introduced a new tax on carriages, which was set at 10 baiocchi per carriage per day.

In 1827, the city of Bologna introduced a new system of street lighting, which was funded by a tax of 2 baiocchi per household per month.

In 1848, the Papal States government issued a decree that all beggars were to be arrested and fined 10 baiocchi.

In 1870, the year before the unification of Italy, the average daily wage of a laborer in Rome was about 100 baiocchi.

The baiocco eventually disappeared after the unification of Italy between 1861 and 1870 and was replaced by the Italian lira which was replaced by the Euro in first of January, 1999.

The design was made by Italian painter Corrado Mezzana. Never heard of the guy before but it seems like his work was very often used in stamps around that time.

Corrado Mezzana was a member of the Roman artists and scholars, Gruppo dei Romanisti, founded in 1929, which enjoyed great prestige. Corrado Mezzana died in Rome on 15.9.1952. The city of Rome honoured his work with an exhibition of his stamp designs, which was visited by the most prominent citizens of the city. source

Here are some more boring semantics about the original stamp in case you care:

The horizontal stamp measures 4 cm. x 3 cm, and the overall dimensions of the souvenir sheet are 11.2 cm. x 12.2 cm. The colors included in the stamp design are black on an ivory background, with the Roman States stamp reproduced in blue/cream (or purple). The Crossed Keys of St. Peter watermark the stamp. Perforations measure 13 x 13 1/4 for the single stamp and 13 x 12 1/2 for stamps in the souvenir sheet. source

Ok plebs, that concludes today's silver stamp! It will take a couple of days before I feature another one since I will be mixing them with my silver coins...Plus I have a feeling I'll have some cool shit arriving in my mail soon that I will be unboxing 🤑

Stack on!

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