Italy - Document - 2 documenti AQ Veneziano - 1608

Republic of Venice.
2 AQ documents with the winged lion no. 18069 dated 1608 with handwritten notes and no. 10345, dated 1723

Measurements: 29.5 cm x 20.5 cm
Good condition as per photo.

Two centuries before Rowland Hill's postal reform, the Serenissima Republic of Venice was already taxing outgoing correspondence, that of 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 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—either on or inside it—the message to be communicated was to be inserted.
It was included in all chancelleries of the state magistracies, which, save for some exceptions, were obliged to use it for their postal correspondence, after payment of four soldi, in addition to the postage and duty.
What may seem an anomaly—the state taxing itself—actually occurred because the public administration in Venice was managed by private individuals who held the office—almost always tax exemptions—after a public tender in which they participated paying out of pocket. They could then recoup expenses by collecting the duties won in the contract.
AQs were therefore a surcharge on top of postage and duty, whose collection was entrusted to a daiсier, a dazio.

The amount of four soldi for each letter helped finance the works of drainage and cleaning of the riverbeds of Brenta, Muson and Bottenigo.

AQs were punched in the center, in line with the pin through which they were pierced and stacked, a fairly common practice in Venice.
Shipment with tracked and insured courier.