Tag: Malta stamp

The Parish Church of Saint Mary’s in Birkirkara, Malta was mostly leveled by an earthquake in 1856. A new church, dedicated to Saint Helen was built and loved enough to eventually be named a basilica. Yet so many years later Malta is displaying the ruins as something tourist should see. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This 12 stamp issue promoted tourism on the small island of Malta. They came up with 12 sites to see, most of which you are not going to see on a brief cruise ship stop.

Todays stamp is issue A191, a 5 cent stamp issued by independent Malta on December 9th, 1991. The twelve stamp issue had different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The Church was built over a 60 year period in the 17th century. It was dedicated to the Assumption of Mary to heaven. This is the belief shared by Catholics, Orthadox, and a few Protestants that at the end of Mary’s, mother of Jesus, time on Earth, she did not die but rather Angels came for her and lifted her bodily up to heaven. This confirmed her without sin and a renewal of the original Covenant as with Adam in the Garden of Eden. The Assumption is dated to August 15th, and celebrated as a feast day. In 1950 Pope Pius attached Papal Infallibility to the belief, but many Protestants don’t feel there is enough basis in the Bible for the belief. Feast poopers. As usual, Lutherans try to thread the needle by not believing in the Assumption but still celebrate the life on earth of Mary on August 15th.

Saint Mary’s Church was designed by Maltese architect Tommaso Dingli in the Renaissance style. After starting his career working on the Wignacourt Aqueduct that brought spring water into Valetta, he settled into the core of his career designing churches around Malta. His reputation was such the Giovanni de Medici tried to bring him to Italy. Dingli refused as he had too much work to do on Malta. I bet Malta wished that was still the case for their best and brightest.

In 1856 there was an earthquake that collapsed the tower and mostly

closed the church except as an occasional funeral venue. The damaged shell was still much loved as it contained so much history. One wall has graffiti dating from the 17th century and another as bullet holes left from the Napoleon Era  French occupation. As early as 1890 there was a local committee with the the goals of rebuilding the church. A new roof was finally put on in the 1970s, not to the original style but again allowing the church to host a Parrish starting in 2005.

Well my drink is empty. I can understand why Birkirkara is fond of the the old ruins. My city also has a church that lost it’s roof to a Nineteenth century hurricane. They left the open air shell around, not as a funeral venue but to host music performances. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

Nineteenth century great power divisions start looking iffy once the twentieth century is under way and the great powers are discredited by World War I. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The visuals on this stamp are interesting. The depiction of the Latin personification of the island and it’s people  is more a 19th century thing than a 20th century thing. Remember the predominance of a classical education of the educated class back then. So what better way to acknowledge the independent thinking of the people of the then still Crown Colony of Malta. Britain would have been in charge of stamp issuance and previous issues almost always were a depiction of the British Monarch. This was good for Britons far from home but may not mean so much for the local population. Britain did one little thing on the much rarer high denominations of this stamp issue. On those Melita is leaning against Britannia, the female Latin personification of Great Britain. It is fun to ponder what was meant by that.

Todays stamp is issue A20, a quarter Penny/one Farthing stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Malta in 1922. The Stamps depict Melita, the female Latin personification of the Maltese land and people. It was part of a 17 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents used. The used one pound stamp from this issue is worth $500.

Malta was awarded to Britain in the treaty that ended the Napoleonic War in 1815. The local people on the island are mainly of Italian decent. Malta’s place in the central Mediterranean makes it a valuable port to control in terms of shipping lanes to the Suez Canal and keeping a check on Italian naval power.

The deprivations of World War I were felt hard on Malta despite there not being fighting there. It became hard to import food and the result was much inflation that left the bulk of the people unable to adequately provide for themselves. Playing into this frustration was a new generation of leaders that saw themselves more as Italian than British in terms of their loyalties. Enrico Mizzi formed a political party that sought independence. They were behind a series of riots in Valetta in 1921 that targeted public edifices where the British flag was displayed. Flags were taken or pulled down but the riots brought out British troops that shot 4 of the Maltese rioters.

Britain tried to soothe the situation by providing a new constitution that granted more self rule. This unfortunately lead to Malta being retained as a colony through World War II. During this war Malta was the subject  of much Italian and German bombing. This targeted the British military presence but hid hard on the civilian population. My English father served in the Royal Air Force and during the war and passed through Valetta. A picture of a British ship burning in the harbor was one of his mementos.

Post war Malta quickly became self governing. Mizzi even briefly served as Prime Minister. Melita was seen as recently as the year 2000 on Maltese bank notes. They now use the Euro.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

A pleasant Commonwealth Christmas stamp from a country ever less comfortable in the Commonwealth. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I think this is the only stamp that I possess that is of this shape. To make the shape doable, they were sold in sheets of 60 with every other row inverted. In this period there were many British Empire/Commonwealth stamp collectors. Their philatelic needs were handled by farmed out stamps, in which extra care was done to catch the eye. Any hard feelings toward Britain are also airbrushed out for the stamp offerings.

The stamp today is issue A85, a 1 penny stamp issued by Malta on October 3rd, 1968. The stamp celebrates Christmas with a view the Star of Bethlehem, shepherds and an angel. It was part of a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Malta is populated by people of mainly Sicilian heritage. They are mainly Catholic. During World War II, the island suffered greatly with German and Italian attacks on the British air and naval forces it was hosting. After the war, Britain was quick to grant self rule to the Colony. There was even a unique offer to allow Malta to integrate into Britain itself. Malta was the only colony this was ever offered to. A vote was taken and while the vote was substantially in favor, (77%). The vote was tainted by a boycott of the vote by one of the two main parties and the Church. A change in government in England also saw a cooling of the idea. The people of Malta would have been overwhelmingly Labour Party, perhaps enough to influence elections. The British Navy was also quickly shrinking, and with it the need for military bases on Malta.

When the British Navy laid off 40 dockworkers, this was used as an excuse by both sides to end the scheme of integration with Britain. Independence was granted in 1964. A small British military presence remained till 1979. The day they departed is celebrated as Freedom Day in Malta.

The newly independent government sought close ties with Italy and surprisingly Libya under Coronel Quadaffi . Muslims had before this mainly been thought of as pirates but were now being marketed as blood brothers. Quadaffi offered aid and built a mosque in a new country that was not having much success with it’s brand of socialism. This came to a sudden end when an American oil platform licensed by Malta to search for oil was approached by a Libyan gunboat. The case later went to the International Court of Justice. Malta was more successful later integrating with the European Union.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting