The 40-year period features a collection of over 1,000 stamps in mint condition, from Maltapost’s own collections and a selection issued by the Republic of Malta.
Maltapost’s communications senior manager Tony Barbaro Sant explained that only some 40-50 stamps from the period are missing, which is quite an achievement considering the total sum of stamps being offered for sale, and the rarity of some of them. Maltapost, in fact, had to buy some of the stamps from private collectors.
The collection comes in a clothbound box that is individually numbered with a run limit of 4,500 and includes a specially designed Hagner folder to protect the stamps, together with a certificate of authenticity. There is also a 380-page book with a philatelic essay by renown Maltese Philatelist Anthony Fenech, along with another four essays on Malta in general and a forward by President Edward Fenech Adami.
Mr Fenech, who was present at the launch had a display of some of his most prized items set up at the press conference. Some of them are featured in his essay.
Among the highlights, Mr Fenech spoke of one of the earliest Maltese stamps that was actually a British stamp with an ‘M’ mark and later an ‘8.25’ cancellation mark. Asked to evaluate the cost of such an item, Mr Fenech said the stamp marked with the M cancellation would probably fetch in the range of Lm500.
On display there was also a 40-word letter by Herbert Ganado from the time of his internship at St Salvatore in Cospicua. The word count was imposed on the internees, however the interesting part, Mr Fenech pointed out, was that Mr Ganado had cancelled out the month, which he had previously written out as Gunio to the numeric form to make space for an extra word in the letter.
The publication was produced by Miranda Publishers and is for sale at a cost of Lm300. Officials from the philatelic society told us that there are some 2,000
registered philatelic collectors, but that the unofficial count could be as high as 7,000. International collectors, too, have shown interest in the book. For information the public can contact Mr Tony Barbaro Sant on 7942-9840 or 2122-5266.