Playing-Card Tax Stamps from Italy

Stamp Text Value (1) start end
1 Mercury (full figure sitting) facing to the left REGNO D'ITALIA
LEGGE 21 Sett 1862		 30 - 50 cen. January 1863 June 1874
2 Mercury (from now on only the head) facing to the right REGNO D'ITALIA CENTESIMI 30 - 50  July 1874 December 1879
3 Mercury (design changed to make counterfeits more difficult ) facing to the right REGNO D'ITALIA CENTESIMI 30 - 50  January 1880 December 1882
4 Mercury facing to the left REGNO D'ITALIA CENTESIMI 30 - 50  January 1883 October 1914
5 Mercury facing to the left REGNO D'ITALIA CENTESIMI 50 - 80  November 1914 May 1917
6 Mercury facing to the left (without date stamps) MINISTERO FINANZE R. PRIVATIVE
D. G. MONOPOLI		 June 1917 June 1922
7 Mercury facing to the left REGNO D'ITALIA LIRE 1,50 - 3 July 1922 December 1923
8 Mercury facing to the left REGNO D'ITALIA LIRE TRE - CINQUE January 1924 September 1925
9 Mercury facing to the right REGNO D'ITALIA LIRE TRE - CINQUE October 1925 July 1945
10 Italia Turrita (is the italian name of the image) (2) Roman number identifing the city (3) LIRE TRE - CINQUE 1944 1945
11 Mercury facing to the right (4) REP. SOC. ITALIANA LIRE TRE - CINQUE 1945 
12 Mercury facing to the right (5) REGNO D'ITALIA LIRE VENTI - TRENTA August 1945 April 1947
13 Mercury facing to the right REPUBBLICA ITALIANA LIRE VENTI - TRENTA May 1947 February 1948
14 Mercury facing to the right REPUBBLICA ITALIANA LIRE CENTO (6) - DUECENTO March 1948 November 1954
15 Mercury facing to the right REPUBBLICA ITALIANA LIRE TRECENTO - CINQUECENTO
LIRE SEICENTO - MILLE (6) 		November 1954 December 1972

    Except for stamps 1, 6 and 10 (both round) the higher value has octagonal stamps and the lower ones round. 
(1) The first value was for normal cards and the second one for deluxe ones. Characteristics of deluxe decks changed during years. 
(2) This stamp was in use during 1944/45 only in the "Repubblica Sociale Italiana", the fascist republic in Northern Italy
(3) Known cities are IX Genoa - XII Milan - XIX Turin - XXIII Trento
(4) This stamp was in use during 1945 (probably January÷April) only in some areas of the fascist "Repubblica sociale italiana". Very hard to find
(5) Stamps in black for packs used in casinos,for the normal use was in brown
(6) For packs made in plastic materials the tax was doubled. Stamps with value LIRE SEICENTO and LIRE MILLE are extremely hard to find

 

1 2 3 4 4 5
5 6 6 7 8 8
9 9 10 10 (1) 10 12
12 12 13 13 14 14

15 15 15

(1) City unknown. Number XIII should be Naples, but in that area there was not the Repubblica Sociale Italiana. 

 

Cards for abroad had different stamps.  

 

Date stamps

 start end
Round date stamp 1 (year with 2 figures) January 1880 December 1899
Round date stamp 2 (year with 3 figures) January 1900 May 1917
Round date stamp 3 (year with 3 figures - only for Milan) Repubblica Sociale Italiana 1944÷1945
Rectangular date stamp 1 - with ornaments (month in uppercase) July 1922 December 1923
Rectangular date stamp 2 - with different ornaments (month in uppercase) January 1924 January 1925
Rectangular date stamp 3 - without ornaments (month in uppercase) February 1925 December 1929
Rectangular date stamp 4 - without ornaments (first letter of the month in uppercase) January 1930 December 1972

 

Round date stamp 1 Round date stamp 2 Round date stamp 3
Rectangular date stamp 1 Rectangular date stamp 2 Rectangular date stamp 3 Rectangular date stamp 4

 

From 1862 to 1972 stamps were on the ace of coins for latin-suited cards, and on the ace of hearts for french-suited cards. 
In the Trentine pattern were on the king of coins and in the Salzburger pattern, used in Bolzano province, on the eight of bells. That's because the provinces of Trento and Bolzano were part of Austria when in Italy was instituted the tax on playing cards and decided on what card the stamp had to be. 
They became Italian provinces only in 1918. 

When inspectors found an irregular or false stamp they cut away an area in the card bringing the stamp so the maker couldn't sell that pack.

In some case the pack was sold when the tax varied and so another stamp was added. 
Many methods were used to reach the right amount:

 

You can find the most complete study on Italian tax stamps in the book of Romano Biani - Manuale storico dei bolli, punzoni e tasse sulle carte da gioco in Italia dal 1861 al 1972 - Biblioteca Classense - Ravenna ottobre 2002

Thanks to Romano Biani for the infos he gave me about Italian stamps during these years. Unfortunately Romano couldn't revise my work, he is no more among us. Ciao Romano, see you later!