Malta
2009
"Definitive issue 2009"
Issue Date |
28.12.2009 |
ID |
Michel: 1612-1628
Scott: 1383-1399 Stanley Gibbons: 1638-1654
Yvert: UPU: MT026.09
Category: pF |
Author |
Edward Pirotta and Paul Psaila |
Stamps in set |
17 |
Value |
1c Skeleton of Prehistoric animal
(Pleistocene Period) (SG 1638)
2c Ruins of stone temple (Early Temple Period) (SG 1639)
5c Carved stone pattern (Late Temple Period) (SG 1640)
7c Pair of Pots ( Bronze Age) (SG 1641)
9c Gold statue (Phoenician and Punic Period) (vert) (SG 1642)
10c Mosaic (Roman Period) (SG 1643)
19c Gold coin (Byzantine Period) (vert) (SG 1644)
26c Fragment of carved stone (Arab period) (SG 1645)
37c Painting (Norman and Hohenstaufen Period) (vert) (SG 1646)
50c Stone tablet carved with shield (Angevin and Aragonese Period)
(vert) (SG 1647)
51c Gold pattern with central Maltese Cross (Knights of St. John) (SG
1648)
63c Painting of officers and crew disembarking in rowing boats from
ships (French Period) (SG 1649)
68c George Cross (British Period) (vert) (SG 1650)
86c Independence (vert) (SG 1651)
1.00 Republic (vert) (SG 1652)
1.08 EU Accession (vert) (SG 1653)
5.00 Arms of Malta (vert) (SG 1654) |
Size (width x height) |
44 x 31 mm |
Layout |
issued separately and in sheet of 17
stamps and 10 stamps per sheet for each single stamp |
Products |
FDCx17 MS x18 |
Paper |
Maltese Cross watermarked |
Perforation |
14 x 14 |
Print Technique |
offset |
Printed by |
Printex Ltd |
Quantity |
miniature sheet - 11,500
29.12.09 - 7500 sheets
23.05.11 - 4000 sheets
0.01 (fossil) - 1,600,000 (160,000
sheets)
29.12.09 - 400,000 stamps (40,000 sheets)
19.10.11 - 1,600,000 stamps (160,000 sheets)
|
Issuing Authority |
Malta Post plc |
On February 28, 2009, Post Authority of Malta issued as et of 17
definitive stamps with face values from 0,01€ to 5,00€.
Later on some stamps are reprinted:
€0.01 - 19 October 2011,
21 April 2015
€0.19 - 14 May 2011
€0.37 - 19 October 2011
Miniature sheet - 23 May 2011
These stamps issued in separate mini sheets of 10 and one
sheet with all 17 values.
The set of 17 stamps tracks Malta's historical phases and milestones by
depicting their related iconic images.
"This remarkable set of stamps offers a philatelic and historical
timeline while also confirming that a small postage stamp can
succinctly tell a major story" said Joseph Said, Chairman, MaltaPost
p.l.c.
To celebrate this new Definitive Set, MaltaPost, in collaboration with
Midsea Books Ltd, is publishing a book titled "The Historical
Collection Celebrating Malta's Heritage Through Stamps". The book, also
to be released on 29 December, narrates Malta's history through a
number of essays by specialist historians. A uniquely numbered Souvenir
Sheet bearing the 17 stamps will also be included in the first 2,500
numbered copies of this publication. Both the Souvenir Sheet as well as
the book bear a matching number.
Fossil
Elephas falconeri dwarf skeleton is depicting on one of the
stamps with a face value of Euro cent 1 (€0,01).
This fossil-found in Ghar Dalam cave which located on the outskirts of
Birzebbuga, Malta containing the bone remains of animals that were
stranded and subsequently became extinct on Malta at the end of the Ice
age. Dwarf elephant, hippopotamus, deer and bear bone deposits found
there are of a different age; the hippopotamuses became extinct about
180,000 years ago, whilst the deer species became extinct much later,
about 18,000 years ago. It is also here that the earliest evidence of
human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered.
The cave was first scientifically investigated in 1885 but was not
opened to the public until 1933. It was used as an air-raid shelter
during World War II. A museum was set up on site by the then curator of
Natural History Dr J.G. Baldacchino. In 1980, the most important and
irreplaceable relicssuch as four tusks of dwarf elephants and the skull
of a Neolithic childwere stolen from the museum.
The cave was investigated in 1987 under the direction of Emanual Anati,
Professor of paleontology at Lecce University. His team of Italian
archaeologists from Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici discovered
Palaeolithic cave art depicting human hands, anthropozoomorphic, and
several animal designs from underneath the stalagmatic formations. Some
depict elephants which have been extinct in the Maltese region since
the Pleistocene.
This stamp reprinted in 2011 and 2015. New stamps have some design
differences, for example the logo of Malta Post at top-left part of a
mini sheet.
Products
FDC |
Presentation Pack |
 |
 |
FDC with stamp of Fossil
Elephas falconeri dwarf skeleton |
Mini Sheet with stamp of Fossil
Elephas falconeri dwarf skeleton |
 |
 |
Mini Sheets |
 |
 |
References:
Wikipedia
Malta
Post
Latest
update 13.11.2017
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