Postage stamps

Lombardy-Venetia received its stamps on the same day as Austria, 1 June 1850 – the same arms, but in centesimi: 5, 10, 15, 30 and 45. They were printed in sheets of 240, cut into four panes of 60, and imperforate. From 1858 values were given in soldi.

Sources: Big Blue: Austria & Lombardy-Venetia 1850 coat of arms issue

It was forgeries of Lombardy-Venetia's own stamps – in Verona in 1853 and in Milan in 1857 – that led Vienna to a new issue with an embossed portrait, much harder to imitate. From 1 November 1858 it came in soldi (2, 3, 5, 10 and 15), in the same design as the Austrian kreuzer set, and it was the first perforated issue. The ornament around the emperor's head differs slightly from value to value; Type I is known by the open ribbon loop at the back of the head, shaped like a '3'.

Sources: Austria-Forum: Freimarken 1858, Wikipedia (de): Kaiserkopfausgabe 1858

After the war of 1859 Austria lost Lombardy, and stamps in soldi remained valid only in Venetia. The new set with the emperor's head facing right in an oval appeared in Austria around the turn of 1860 and 1861, but the Venetian values came later – 5 soldi in June 1861 and 10 soldi in June 1862 – because the loss of Lombardy had left large stocks of the 1858 soldi stamps. The dies for the embossed printing were engraved by Tautenhayn; the stamps were valid until 31 May 1864.

Sources: Austria-Forum: Freimarken 1860

As in Austria, in 1863 the emperor's head gave way to the double eagle after the German-Austrian Postal Union decided that the most-used values of its members should share the same colours. The white eagle in a coloured oval was embossed from dies engraved by Josef Tautenhayn. In Venetia these stamps were valid until October 1866.

Sources: Austria-Forum: Doppeladler der Freimarken 1863 und 1864