Italy: CLN & Ponte Chiasso Overprints 1944-1945

Something else I can look out for when ever I get to look through my many envelopes of Italy stamps.
David

Sorry to say that additional online searching at www.italianstamps.co.uk/cln/index.html indicates that "For each of these six stamps just 300 were issued in mint condition. 2700 covers were sold with the three pairs on. Stamps with overprints entirely in one colour are forgeries."  Here are the images from that website of what are apparently the genuine overprinted stamps:



So, the bad news for me is that, assuming the information from this website is correct, it looks like these six stamps that I have are most likely forgeries.  The site also indicates that genuine copies have violet hand-stamped images on the gum, and mine do not.  Well, this has been an interesting diversion, in any case, and I am still holding out hope that the earlier stamps shown in this thread are genuine, but I do not know.

Some time back I did some research on CLNs, so for a little (boring?) concise summary:

The C.L.N. (National Liberation Committees) were controlled by anti-fascist parties.  The participants came from diverse political and religious beliefs.  Their main aim was to free Italy from Nazi-fascism and to lay the foundations for the new post-war Italy structure.  On October 1943 the Southern CLN was created.  They operated under the comprehensive C.L.N.A.I. (Italy High National Liberation Committee) which supported all the armed resistance struggles and links with allies and other foreign resistance forces.

As areas were liberated, a postal system was under consideration and they economically decided to overprint the various existing stamps with slogans extolling the Resistance and to cover the symbols of fascism.  The central CNLAI apparently did not participate in the issue of the various overprints but the process was delegated to the various local CNL's to seize the remaining stamps in post offices, provide overprints and return them to the same office. As might be expected, many did end up in the hands of stamp dealers.
Given the turbulent times and the lack of an established central government, collectors debate whether many of the stamps were proper postal issues or more of a Cinderella type propaganda.

There was also a decree issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on September 1945 which denied the validity of the overprints of several districts as they were not approved by the Ministry. However the stamps had been printed and distributed several months before.  There was a specific process to have any stamps approved and it is doubtful many CLN's followed this process to the letter.

Aside from the official decrees that the stamps are valid, they had to be only provided in post offices or sanctioned outlets (NOT stamp dealers).
As well they had to eventually be used in actual postal delivery which again given the state of armed resistance, it is unlikely many postmen were making their rounds in areas were there was still resistance fighting.  There are notes that following the full liberation, some CLN's were "authorized".  Hence, certain catalogs omit this series altogether due to the uncertainties.

All this to say don't throw away your "forgeries" !

The author mentioned may not be entirely correct on single color stamps being forgeries. Unfortunately I do not have the Bible on CLN's - a 300+ page book by Raybaudi that is still available. BTW if your stamps have a genuine Raybaudi signature - that's great as they are a 3rd generation family of experts & auction house with dozens of specialty Italian publications.



I have seen the stamps you have and they were noted as being test prints in a single color without the purple backstamp.
Auctions have listed a set ~$200-300 US

Interesting - covers occasionally come up. 2500 were specially prepared although only 300 sets of stamps were issued.
The stamps were issued Nov 11 1945 but the covers were backdated April 24 1945

Anyway, I will know for sure about the test prints shortly.
For anyone interested I can provide a section on CLN's from 2 main catalogs (in Italian) - PM me.

CLN answer

Submitted your images

Yes, we recognize as genuine overprints the alternate colors.
Best regards
______________________________

Raybaudi Experts
via di propaganda, 27
00187 Roma
tel/fax +39/066784296
Periti Filatelici del Tribunale e della CCIA di Roma
A.P.F.I.P. Associazione Periti Filatelici Italiani
R.P.S.L. Royal Philatelic Society of London
A.N.P.F. Associazione Nazionale Professionisti Filatelici

Here's some singles listed as proofs - LINK
Pairs list from 2-300 Euros - so a very good find

This seems  an appropriate place to post rather than satart another thread

Italian Social Republic Sc# 6-9

Revised Scans of CLN Ponte Chiasso Overprints
On Italy, Scott #C12-C19, Complete Set

And now here is the complete set of Italy Air Mail stamps with the same overprint.  I am glad to have found the full set, although you can see from the scans that a few of the stamps have some surface damage due to having been stuck together from being stored in less-than-ideal conditions for several years before I could rescue them.

These CLN items were included in a small lot of Italian Aviation Cinderellas that I purchased recently. Found this 'Italian Stamps' link which shows these stamps. The sheets are shown under Aosta but have switched colours compared with the original perforated versions.

The 4 stamps below are from Valle Bormida.

Probably all forgeries.


Scan_20210130 by Daniel, on Flickr

Surely the seller considered them cindarellas, this proves that sometimes those who sell on the web do not know what exactly they are selling. Good for you Daniel. 

Translation:

1945- Statue of Theseus. Letterpress in sheets of 16. Poor paper, porous and yellowish.

Circulation: 5000 of the no. 16,18 and 19. 9600 of n.17 all partially destroyed by war events.
They were used for the postage of correspondence for the whole of Italy from 26 IV 1945 to the end of May of the same year.

So very small quantities and inventories, used for a very short period.  What more could you ask for in philately.