Even though the game, or, better, sport, of bridge is internationally known, it has not drawn much attention in the world of philately: bridge-themed stamps are few and difficult to find.
This article aims to outline how bridge has featured in stamps editions. Since the author is an experienced bridge player, but not a stamps expert, I apologise for any omissions, for not indicating the perforations and for not referring to the international catalogues such as Yvert and Tellier.
We will go through international philately, Italian philately, the Intercontinental tournament in Rome and a review of Italian essays on this topic.
Fulvio Manno
Bridge & Philately – Part III
Bridge & Philately in Italy §1
Italian stamp engravings are incredibly sparse, while there are more international editions.
The first Italian tournament of national importance took place in Rimini in the 1950s.
The Italian mail service issued a cancel from 1953 to 1959.
I do not know whether the Tournament (firstly referred to as National and then International) took place before 1953 or after 1959.
In the picture the dates indicate 1955 and 1958.
To celebrate the XX Bridge World Championships (Venice, May 1974), a special cancel was issued. Our Blue Team fielded Benito Bianchi, Pietro Forquet , Arturo Franco , Benito Garozzo, Dano De Falco and Sandro Salvetti (npc). The American team won silver with Mark Blumenthal , Robert Goldman, Robert Hamman , Sammy Kehela , Eric Murray , Robert Wolf, and Ira Corn (npc). Brazil won bronze with Blanco and Gabriel Chagas. In total, six countries took part (the title holders, the Centre and North American Champion, the 1973 European Champion, the Pacific Champion, South American Champion and East Asian Champion). On a side note, in the 1974 Bermuda Bowl we started using bidding boxes, which contain the bidding cards for the auction, instead of talking out loud. This prevented players from sharing unauthorised information through their tone of voice.
The first Italian stamp which featured bridge was engraved in 1983, to celebrate the sixth “Trofeo Intercontinentale Assicurazioni” with a sheet dedicated to the Blue Team which had won 10 World titles and 3 Olympics. They also issued a 350 lire postal card, (cm, 14,8 x 10,5) to celebrate the International Tournament, printed in 900000 copies in colour (8 colours), from 12 march 1983 (the starting date of the tournament).
Two years later a big bridge event took place in Roma, with 600 pairs taking part, 1200 players, 300 tables and 1200 chairs. This was a wonderful event, which was a success thanks to the efforts of Alfredo Antoniozzi and Silvana Pampana. The winners were the pair Buccianti-Pucciarelli from Milan, followed by. Sandro Palladino and Marina Fransos from Rome and by Fabrizio Catarsi and Enrico Castellani from Pisa. A postal card commemorates the event.
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Fulvio Manno
English Edition By Laura Cecilia Porro
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