The Vatican Postal History

The Vatican City is the smallest sovereign state (108.7 acres) to issue its own stamps. The Vatican is conservative in the issuing of collectible stamps, only doing about 12 commemorative series per year. These series may feature religious and historical subjects and many collectors are interested in these. Vatican City gained its political independence from Italy on February 11, 1929. Two days later, the Vatican Post Office began its operation with supplies and equipment donated by others. The first stamps issued by the Vatican on August 1, 1929, were called the Conciliation series. This series consisted of 15 stamps - 13 were regular issue which depicted the papal tiara and crossed keys and two were special delivery stamps which featured Pope Pius XI, the current Pope. The Conciliation series was overprinted though the years with different postal values until 1939 when Pope Pius XI passed away.

The only organization in the world devoted exclusively to the study of the Vatican's postal stamps and its postal history is located in the United States and is called the Vatican Philatelic Society. Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Vatican City nation, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum had digitalized its complete collection of 1,496 Vatican stamps, dating from 1929 to 2008.

The Vatican Post Office has been given the honor of being one of the best postal systems in the world. It has a reputation for producing attractive stamp issues in limited quantities and are issued under the authority of the Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State. Many Romans make weekly trips to the Vatican Post Office to mail their important letters due to their distrust of the Italian postal system. The Vatican Post Office will only post letters with their own stamps on them.