The "SMALL EAGLE"
Last of the newspaper stamp, it substituted
gradually its predecessor. It represents the Austrian-Hungarian double headed
eagle, printed in relief typographically (as for the IV and V common issue)
inside an oval frame. This oval is in turn surrounded by a rectangle having
the background made by lines; the whole is enclosed in an octagonal frame
with the label "STEMPEL K.K. ZEITUNGS POST" (clockwise from
left to right).
As usual, it was printed in Vienna in the Royal Printing House, on Josef Tautenhayn
engraving, in sheets of 400 pieces divided in 4 groups of 100 each and separated
horizontally by an inter-space of around 23/25 mm. It was printed on machine
made paper of two different types, with and without watermark. First deliveries
were without watermark (from July 1863 to June 1864), later on were used sheets
of paper with watermark "ZEITUNGS-MARKEN" in the center,
25mm high. It was used applied on a single newspaper copy (1,05 Soldi or 3
centesimi) and was officially valid up to August 19th 1866 (in other words
it was valid as long as the Veneto territory was becoming occupied and made
free). Between the varieties we have the offsets, the samples with sheet borders
showing the squaring of the external composition line, couples with group
inter-spacing and the couples tete-beche (the 17th piece of part of the issue
was in fact inserted upside down in the printing composition). The number
of printed parts is unknown.
Official reprints were made in the years 1870, 1884, 1886 and 1894.
Fig. 1:
''Small Eagle'