The 1st issue - general introduction

The 1st issue of the Tuscany Grand Duchy goes back to April 1851.
The Tuscany Administration used the Austria experience in the subject and in fact an executive was sent from Vienna to give suggestions and explanations (such Giuseppe Hueber).
The chosen subject was the "Etruria Lion with Crown" called also "Marzocco". The lion, sitting on a kind of small pedestal, is at the stamp center, facing left, and keeps under the left paw the shield with the lily. All around there is a double rectangular frame with (from left to right the label "FRANCOBOLLO", "POSTALE", "TOSCANO". The chosen subject, the Lion that hanging over the shield, comes from the symbol of the town of Florence. The famous sculptor Donatello, did an important masterpiece on this subject, called exactly "Marzocco", that he did at the beginning of the 1400. Strange enough, today in the popular say in Tuscany, "Marzocco" is instead the denomination of man foolish, useless and "simpleton"...

In the lower part of the stamp there is the plug with the label of the value and on the four corners there are small ornaments of squared form. The original minting die had the lower plug full. Therefore the corresponding part was taken off. Operation that left some minimal sign: for instance to the right of the plug with the value there is usually a bit more space than on the left (Fig. 1). In addition the lower border is interrupted both at the right and at the left, except in some cases, especially in the first printing runs, where some times we can find complete in both sides (not common) or only in one (not frequent) - Fig. 2 -

Fig. 1: the value plug is often more spaced on the right

Open plug	Plug closed on the left
Plug closed on the right	Plug completely closed

Fig. 2: as the value plug can presents itself

The stamp of rectangular shape measures about 18.5x22.5 mm. The original minting die was made in steel by Giuseppe Niderost, on of the most skilled engravers of the Granduchy Mint House: the job was completed in short time. The various stereotypes for the printing were done by Alessandri foundry and the printing was executed by the "Tipografia Granducale F. Cambiagi e Co." from Florence, in the rooms of the Postal Department, in Piazza of the Signoria, with typographic system. Only one printing table was prepared without the indication of the value that, as said, was inserted case by case with mobile characters. The sheets comprehended 240 pieces, organized in three groups one on top of the other of 80 (5 rows of 16 pieces), separated from each other by a very small inter-space, about 1.5 millimeters. The three groups were separated before being distributed for their sale and therefore we cannot find couples separated by the group inter-space but at the best samples that show it above or below (see the "Going Deep" section). Minimal also is the space between the various stamps (less than 1 millimeter) and this explains the difficulties to find pieces well margined, as the collectors well know! All the printing composition was surrounded by a thin colored typographic line distant about 1.5 to 2 millimeters. Someone says that it was used to sustain the composition, others to keep united the stereotypes. Because the border was cut before the delivery of the stamps, it is very rare to find it (see "Going Deep" section).
Let us go now to the paper, other "pain" for the lovers of these stamps. It is of hand made type, of relative good quality, of variable thickness. It was colored with a blue shade (someone says with a bath in water, others that it was colored in paste), but it did not maintain constant this coloration in the following printing runs. We can find it both in blue shade and in gray shade going through many intermediate shades, not always easy to classify. The paper was with watermark for security. It was used paper already available, making some modification to the watermark by the paper mill Cini from S. Marcello Pistoiese. It is put in the paper in very heavy way and sometimes even cuts the paper. It is formed by 4 lines of 3 crowns separated by 5 horizontal lines and by one vertical (Fig. 3 - 4).

Fig. 3: the "Crown" watermark as it presents itself in the sheet and in the stamp. (the photo of the sheet is taken from the article here below mentioned)

Fig. 4: picture of a couple of 4 Crazie in "usual" appearance,
"on the back" and on the back in "negative".
The watermark is perfectly visible.
To be noticed also the occasional missing piece of printing on the second "L"
of "FRANCOBOLLO" in the right sample and the bump
of the upper right corner, due to a stereotype deformation.

For the ones who want to go deeper in the subject of the printing of these stamps, I have found a beautiful article, very detailed (from whim I extracted part of the info) appeared in the Vaccari Magazine, nr. 24 of November 2000 by Ferruccio Lucini and Luigi Sirotti. I invite you to go also to the "Bibliography" section for the list of other important works.

The stamps of the issue did not get prepared and issued all together, but according to this "official calendar": the real date of use known are in some cases after those official of the issue and are mentioned in the single cards of the stamps.
Of each value there are printing runs made in blue paper or in gray paper or in intermediate shades: only the 2 Soldi was printed uniquely in blue paper and the 60 Crazie is only in gray paper: