Having a history that spans centuries, all the way back to pre-historic times, Malta has had many firsts. A few centuries down the line, in the 1800s (during the British period), Malta’s postal service began changing, and its first stamp was born.
On their Instagram, MaltaPost shared a throwback photo of the islands’ very first stamp - the Halfpenny Yellow. But delivery of letters in Malta was actually free of charge for a while.
“Did you know that in 1853 letters to places in Malta were delivered free of charge? A few years later, in 1860, the Council decided to impose a charge of half a penny for letters not exceeding 14g. The result of this was the birth of Malta’s first stamp - the Halfpenny Yellow.”
This particular stamp was only valid for local postage and depicting the then-Queen of England, Queen Victoria, and issued on 1st December 1860. It was the only stamp issued for 25 years by the Crown Colony of Malta and during this time, reprints of it were done, varying in colour, watermark, shade and perforation.
On 1st January 1885, a set of new definitive stamps were issued after the islands’ postal service was transferred to Malta’s colonial government.