Varieties in the Postage Stamps of Italy

by Tony Clayton


Italian Road Safety Issue


The Italian Road Safety issue of 1957 comes in two main varieties. The black of the outline of the traffic lights is created by the simultaneous printing of the red and green.

In the first printing the red went up to the edge of the design, but any misalignment would produce a red edge to the lights.

In subsequent printings the red was reduced in size so that the black areas of the traffic lights appear, on close examination, to have green outlines.


Image of Road Safety stamps

The left hand side shows the modified printing (Sassone 815), the right hand side the original (Sassone 815/I)


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Stamps of Italy - Traffic Lights issue of 1957 / Copyright reserved by the author, Tony Clayton / v3 18 December 2004