Halfpenny Yellow

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00:00World Stamps Halfpenny Yellow

00:11The Halfpenny Yellow is Malta's first postage stamp.

00:16It was first issued on December 1, 1860 and was only valid for local postage.

00:21It continued to be used until Malta's first definitive set was issued on January 1, 1885

00:28and during its 25 years of use, it was reprinted 29 times.

00:34From June 10, 1853, local mail had been free of charge in Malta.

00:39In 1859, the Council of Government decided that this was to be withdrawn

00:44and the new Halfpenny stamp was needed to pay the local rate.

00:48On April 30, 1859, the Crown Agents for the Colonials were informed

00:53and they commissioned De La Rue to engrave a die for the stamp.

00:57The engraving was done by Jean Ferdinand, who later engraved stamps of the Confederate States of America.

01:03Specimen stamps were later sent to Malta in 1859 and they were approved.

01:09The stamp, in buff on blued, unwatermarked paper, was sent to Malta on July 21, 1859

01:16and was issued on December 1, 1860.

01:19The new stamp was sold from the post office at Valletta police stations and various stationers.

01:25The earliest known use is December 13, 1860, on a cover from Valletta to Mosta.

01:31It sold for 5,800 pounds at an auction in December 2009.

01:36The stamp was later reprinted in several shades for 28 more times.

01:41The paper was changed from blue to white in 1861

01:45and from 1863, Crown CC watermarked paper was used.

01:49These were the first Malta stamps to have a gutter in between the panes of the stamps in the sheet.

01:54Prior to this, the stamps had wing margins.

01:57In November 1879, the perforation was once again reverted to 14

02:02and all subsequent printings used the same perforation.

02:05The last major change came from 1882 when paper watermarked Crown CA began to be used.

02:12In July 1883, it was proposed that the color would be changed to green.

02:17The stamps were printed in this color and delivered to Malta later that year.

02:21However, they were not put on sale until late 1884 and they became valid for postage on January 1, 1885,

02:29along with Malta's first definitive set of stamps.

02:33The green stamps remained in use until around 1903,

02:37and because of their long period of use, they're very common.

02:40In 1899, some of the halfpenny greens were overprinted for fiscal use.

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