The provisionals of the R.S.I.

A completely unique case in Italian postal history

The volume presents a finally realistic and postally correct history of these temporary postage stamps and postal stationery, which document one of the

the most troubled, anomalous and complex periods in the history of Italy, when even the tradition of jealous confidentiality that has always

surrounds the production of postal security cards, having them overprinted at various printing presses, both governmental and private.

A story based on precise or at least documentable information on the sequence of events, on the postal regulations, on the machines from

printing and the techniques in use, which not only clear the field of errors and bizarre hypotheses (until it was discovered that even two postage stamps had the

double edition), but also offer a more concise system for identifying the origin of these overprints, both on stamps, in the presence of

sheets, large blocks and even as far as possible loose copies or documents, whether on postcards, postal cards, money order forms and

shipping slips, for the first time comprehensively treated. A concise but comprehensive story, accompanied by enlarged reproductions

of the various overprints and their colors, which comes from the union of multiple experiences from historical postal research to exams

spectrometric control over the philatelic material that fills many of the gaps still existing in this exciting and very popular

collecting sector.

by Carlo Maria Cis, Franco Filanci e Domenico Tagliente.