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| Mint lapel pin for the Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori from 1935 |
I was meaning to share this sooner, but I’ve been busy with work, and life in general, and unable to take pictures of some of these historical artifacts before now. These latest findings from our exploration of a dank storage facility in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn are arguably more interesting and a little more varied than the first haul we unearthed back in April [See Startling Discovery of an Unintended Time Capsule Dating Back to the Early Twentieth Century]. With only a fraction of the collection examined thus far, we are sure to uncover much, much more.
Clearly, the person who once owned these objects had a strong fascination with the ventennio fascista, which admittedly is not all that surprising. If we’re being honest, when I was a teen I remember a lot of older people in the community speaking fondly of Il Duce. “If only” they would often lament, “he didn’t get caught up with that other guy.” It was not that uncommon to see Mussolini’s portrait or bust on display in a store or café in the Eighties, so one can only imagine how popular he was during the Roaring Twenties and Thirties, when most of these objects are from.
Times have certainly changed. Other than childishly calling someone a “fascist” when they disagree with you, the expired system and its bellicose progenitor are virtually forgotten. Not surprisingly, other than our inquisitive circle of history buffs, and a few socialist professors with a morbid curiosity for all things fascist, few people have shown any real interest in our discoveries.
Despite what I may or may not think about these items, or how they contrast with my own Monarchist political leanings, I remain detached and concern myself only with their historical significance and preservation. We cannot learn from history without examining it, and we cannot examine the past if it remains buried.
~ Giovanni di Napoli, June 1, Feast of Sant’Annibale Maria di Francia
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| The pin, with fasces logo, is sewn to the envelope |
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Oversized postcards dated 4 May 1916 with the
goddess Minerva pointing the way to victory |
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| A couple of interesting books from the 1920's |
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| MNH 1931 Marca da Bollo revenue stamp |
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| 1940 US stamp commemorating the 400th anniversary of the exploration of the Southwestern United States by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his Captains |
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(L) Stacks of Neapolitan sheet music. (R) Post card with
embossed American and Kingdom of Italy flags |
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(L) Metal etching with traces of ink. (R) Postcard with famed
Neapolitan singer Gilda Mignonette (Grisela Andreatini) |
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| Postcard with a dapper looking Mussolini and untarnished replica medal |
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| Envelope from Naples dated 1936 filled with postcards (see below) |
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| King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Benito Mussolini |
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| Il Duce and Sciaboletta |
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| A stoic looking Mussolini in helmet |
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| Equestrian portraits of Il Duce |
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| Mussolini wearing the Arditi style fez |
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| (L) Il Duce with the diminutive King during le grandi manovre. (R) Dressed in black shirt, Mussolini harangues a large crowd of followers in Piazza Venezia |
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| Princess Marie José of Belgium and Umberto, Principe di Piemonte |
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| Prince Umberto di Savoia, the future King Umberto II of Italy |
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| Prince Umberto of Piemonte, later the May King |
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| General Pietro Badoglio, Viceroy of Italian East Africa |
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| (L) Count Gian Galeazzo Ciano. (R) Pietro Badoglio |
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| Pietro Badoglio, Maresciallo d'Italia |
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| Rodolfo Graziani, Marquess di Neghelli |
