On May 31, 1933, Vatican City issued a set of eighteen stamps consisting of six different designs and a wide range of postal values, including special delivery stamps.
Four of the stamps, Vatican Scott numbers 24-27, depict the Vatican Gardens and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. This design includes the 30-centisimi (chocolate and black), 50-cent (chocolate and purple), 75-cent (chocolate and lake), and 80-cent (carmine and rose) values. The Vatican Gardens date from the pontificate of Nicholas III (1277-1280). These vertical stamps measure 2.5 x 3 cm.
Engraver F. Schrinbock designed the stamps. The Italian State Printing Works, Rome, produced the stamps using the recess printing process. Perforations measure 14 x 14. The stamps contain the Crossed Keys of St. Peter watermark. The inscription Poste Vaticane appears on all eighteen stamps in this set.
The Vatican withdrew the stamps from sale on February 28, 1947.
References:
"Vatikanstaat" in Michel Europa Katalog, band 3, Sudeuropa, Unterschleissheim, Germany: Schwanberger Verlag GMBH, 2008.
"Vatican City" in Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, part 8, Italy and Switzerland, 7th edition. Stanley Gibbons, Ltd: Ringwood, Hampshire, England, 2010.
"Vatican City," in Scott Standard Stamp Catalogue, volume 6, Sidney, Ohio: Scott Publishing Company, 2006.
James Lees-Milne, Saint Peter's: The Story of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome (Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1967), 117, 119-121, 216-222, chapters 6 and 8.
Filippo Coarelli, Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide, translated by James J. Clauss and Daniel P. Harmon (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2007), 354-356.
