Italy - Document - 2 documenti AQ Veneziano - 1608

Republic of Venice.
Two AQ documents with the winged lion number 9896 and 10594, dated 1608.

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

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

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

The name derives from the indication AQe, a truncation of the Latin word 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 inserted either inside or on it. It was issued to all the chancelleries of the state magistracies, which, with some exceptions, were obliged to use it for their postal correspondence, after paying four soldi, in addition to the postage and duty.

What may seem an anomaly—the state taxing itself—arose because public administration in Venice was run by private individuals who held the post—invariably tax collections—after a public bidding where they participated paying out of their own pockets. They could then recoup the expenses by collecting the duties won in the contract.

AQs were therefore an additional surcharge on top of the postage and the duty, whose collection was entrusted to a dacier (dazier).

The amount of four soldi per letter was used to fund the works of reclamation and cleaning of the riverbeds of the Brenta, Muson, and Bottenigo.

AQs were perforated in the center, corresponding to the pin on which they were pierced and stacked, a fairly common practice in Venice.

Shipment with tracked and insured courier.