Italy - Document - 2 documenti AQ Veneziano - 1608

Republic of Venice.
Two AQ documents with the Winged Lion nr. 9898 and 9932, dated 1608.

Measurements: 29.5 x 20.5 cm
Good condition as in the photo.

Two centuries before Rowland Hill’s postal reform, the Serenissima Republic of Venice already taxed outbound correspondence, that of its public offices.

The AQ can be considered the progenitor of the stamp and of the entire postal system, 230 years before the Penny Black and the Mulready. It anticipated a revolutionary idea: the payment of the amount due by the sender.

The name derives from the indication AQe, a truncation of the Latin aquae; the document was issued at the request of the Savi Esecutori alle Acque.

It was a “letter” taxed, indeed pre-taxed: “dacio delli soldi 4 per lettera,” on which—the message to be communicated—was to be inserted, either on or inside the letter.

It was issued to all chancelleries of the State magistratures, which, save for some exceptions, were obliged to use it for their postal correspondence, after paying four soldi, in addition to the postage and duty.

What might seem an anomaly—the State taxing itself—actually occurred because the public administration in Venice was managed by private individuals who held the post—almost always as tax collectors—after a bidding process in which they paid out of pocket. They could then recoup expenses by collecting the duties won in the bidding process.

AQs were therefore a surcharge supplementary to the postage and the duty, whose collection was entrusted to a dacier, a daziary.

The amount of four soldi per letter served to finance works of embankment and cleaning of the riverbeds of the Brenta, Muson, and Bottenigo.

The AQ were perforated in the center, corresponding to the pin through which they were impaled and stacked, a rather common practice in Venice.

Shipment with tracked and insured courier.