SAN MARINO

One of San Marino’s earliest postal history landmarks dates back to October 1607, when a Postillion was appointed to go to the Post of Rimini to post mail and to pick up the mail for San Marino. His salary was paid with some of the proceeds of the tax on every incoming letter, from which no one was exempt. A real post office was established in 1833, it used an AFFRANCATA hand-stamp to indicate that post had been paid. It was used until the introduction of the Papal States stamps, which were affixed on the outgoing Sanmarinese mail in Rimini, when needed; only in October 1862 a proper hand-stamp — a boxed S. MARINO – started to be used on mail from the tiny Republic. In fact, in that same year San Marino signed a Friendship and Good Neighbourhood Agreement with the Kingdom of Italy. The first adhesive postage stamps used in San Marino were those of the Fourth issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia, followed by those of Italy proper. As usual, the mail was handed over to the Rimini post office where it was also postmarked with Rimini’s circle date stamp. On 1 August 1877 San Marino issued its own postage stamps which began regular postal use on 1 October 1877. This was the result of a new postal agreement signed with Italy that introduced reciprocity as regards to mail and postal money orders; the postal rates were the same as those paid in Italy, and only in 1899 did San Marino introduce its own postal rates.