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Malta Saint Paul 10s Black
The St Paul's Shipwreck 10/- black is a postage and revenue stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Malta on 6 March 1919, and it is generally considered to be the country's rarest and most expensive stamp. It is rare because a very limited quantity of 1530 stamps was printed and it was inadvertently issued prematurely by the Post Office. The stamp had been printed by De La Rue in 1913, and its design was based on an 1899 postage stamp which depicted the same scene but had different inscriptions around the frame. A reprint of the 1919 design was issued in 1922 with a different watermark, and this was more numerous resulting in the stamp not being as rare as the previous issue. Background and design On 4 February 1899, Malta issued a set of four definitive postage stamps which showed pictorial scenes. This was the first set of Malta stamps which did not feature the portrait of the reigning British monarch (then Queen Victoria). The highest denomination in the set was the 10/-, which d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Definitive Stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in contrast to a "provisional stamp", one that is issued for a temporary period until regular stamps are available, or a "commemorative stamp", a stamp "issued to honor a person or mark a special event" available only for a limited time. Commonly, a definitive issue or series includes stamps in a range of Denomination (postage stamp), denominations sufficient to cover current postal rates. An "issue" generally means a set that is put on sale all at the same time, while a "series" is spread out over several years, but the terms are not precise. Additional stamps in a series may be produced as needed by changes in postal rates; nevertheless some values may be permanently available, regardless of prevailing rates; examples include 1c or 1p and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Times Of Malta
The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Malta. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circulation and is seen as the daily newspaper of record of the Maltese press. The newspaper is published by Allied Newspapers Limited, which is owned by the Strickland Foundation, a charitable trust established by Mabel Strickland in 1979 to control the majority of the company. History The history of ''The Times'' of Malta is linked with that of its publishing house, Allied Newspapers Limited. This institution has a history going back to the 1920s, when it pioneered journalism and the printing industry in Malta. It all started with the publication, by Gerald Strickland, of Malta's first evening newspaper in Maltese, ''Il-Progress''. This was a four-page daily with its own printing offices in what was then 10A, Strada Reale, Valletta. The na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stamp Collecting
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service, as a never-ending stream of new stamps was produced by countries that sought to advertise their distinctiveness through their stamps. Collecting Stamp collecting is generally accepted as one of the areas that make up the wider subject of philately, which is the study of stamps. A philatelist may, but does not have to, collect stamps. It is not uncommon for the term ''philatelist'' to be used to mean a stamp collector. Many casual stamp collectors accumulate stamps for sheer enjoyment and relaxation without worrying about the tiny details. The creation of a large or comprehensive collection, however, generally requires some philatelic knowledge and will usually contain areas of philate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revenue Stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things. Typically, businesses purchase the stamps from the government (thereby paying the tax), and attach them to taxed items as part of putting the items on sale, or in the case of documents, as part of filling out the form. Revenue stamps often look very similar to postage stamps, and in some countries and time periods it has been possible to use postage stamps for revenue purposes, and vice versa. Some countries also issued dual-purpose postage and revenue stamps. Description Revenue stamps are stamps used to designate collected taxes and fees. They are issued by governments, national and local, and by official bodies of various kinds. They take many forms and may be gummed and ungummed, perforated or imperforate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postage And Revenue Stamp
A postage and revenue stamp, sometimes also called a dual-purpose stamp, is a stamp which is equally valid for use as a postage stamp and as a revenue stamp. They often but not always bear an inscription such as "Postage and Revenue". Dual-purpose stamps were common in the United Kingdom and the British Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries, and they are still used in some countries as of the early 21st century. Dual-purpose stamps used for postal purposes usually bear a postmark, while those which are used as revenues bear some form of fiscal cancel (such as a pen cancel, a handstamp or a commercial overprint). Use in the British Empire and Commonwealth In 1881, the Customs and Inland Revenue Act was passed in the United Kingdom, and it stated that "stamp duties of one penny may be denoted by postage stamps, and vice versa." This led to dual-purpose stamps being issued, starting with the Penny Lilac of 1881 and the Lilac and Green Issue of 1883–1884. The former was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postage Stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover (e.g., packet, box, mailing cylinder)—that they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. The item is then delivered to its addressee. Always featuring the name of the issuing nation (with the exception of the United Kingdom), a denomination of its value, and often an illustration of persons, events, institutions, or natural realities that symbolize the nation's traditions and values, every stamp is printed on a piece of usually rectangular, but sometimes triangular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perforation Gauge
In philatelic terminology, perforation gauge has two meanings: * As a term for classification. The "perforation gauge" of a stamp specifies the number of perforation holes that appear in a two-centimeter span along its edge. The finest gauge ever used is 18 on stamps of the Malay States in the early 1950s, and the coarsest is 2, seen on the 1891 stamps of Bhopal. Modern stamp perforations tend to range from 11 to 14. Many stamps are produced with "compound perforations" ''i. e.'', the vertical and horizontal perforations will be of different gauges. Many U. S. stamps have been perforated 10½ x 11. * As the name for a philatelic tool used to measure perforations. Invented in 1866 by Jacques Legrand, the typical "perf gauge" (sometimes called an odontometer) is a metal or plastic tile on which perforations of gauges ranging from 7 and 7½ to 16 and 16½ are marked (the marks sometimes appear at the edges of the tile). The philatelist places each of these depictions beside a stamp unt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crown Agents
Crown Agents Ltd is a not-for-profit international development company with head office in London, United Kingdom, and subsidiaries in USA and Japan. Crown Agents fully owns Greenshields Cowie, a freight forwarding limited company incorporated in 1938, also based in the United Kingdom. In April 2016 its financial services arm, Crown Agents Bank and Crown Agents Investment Management, was sold to Helios Investment Partners. Incorporated as a private limited company Crown Agents Ltd has only one shareholder – the Crown Agents Foundation, a not-for-profit company. Crown Agents Ltd's registered office is in Southwark, London. History Early history Prior to 1997, Crown Agents was a UK public statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ..., overseen by the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watermark
A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations in the paper. Watermarks have been used on postage stamps, currency, and other government documents to discourage counterfeiting. There are two main ways of producing watermarks in paper; the ''dandy roll process'', and the more complex ''cylinder mould process''. Watermarks vary greatly in their visibility; while some are obvious on casual inspection, others require some study to pick out. Various aids have been developed, such as ''watermark fluid'' that wets the paper without damaging it. A watermark is very useful in the examination of paper because it can be used for dating documents and artworks, identifying sizes, mill trademarks and locations, and determining the quality of a sheet of paper. The word is also used for digital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intaglio (printmaking)
Intaglio ( ; ) is the family of printing and printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of a relief print where the parts of the matrix that make the image stand ''above'' the main surface. Normally, copper or in recent times zinc sheets, called plates, are used as a surface or matrix, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or mezzotint, often in combination. Collagraphs may also be printed as intaglio plates. After the decline of the main relief technique of woodcut around 1550, the intaglio techniques dominated both artistic printmaking as well as most types of illustration and popular prints until the mid 19th century. Process In intaglio printing, the lines to be printed are cut into a metal (e.g. copper) plate by means either of a cutting tool called a burin, held in the hand – in which case the process is called ''engraving''; or t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Gibbons
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philatelic publisher. The company's philatelic subsidiary, Stanley Gibbons Limited, has a royal warrant of appointment from Queen Elizabeth II. History The company has a long corporate history, having started as a sole trader business owned by Edward Stanley Gibbons in 1856 and now being a quoted company with a number of subsidiaries. Before 1900 The business started when, employed as an assistant in his father's pharmacy shop in Plymouth, Gibbons set up a counter selling stamps. In 1863 he was fortunate enough to purchase from two sailors a sackful of rare Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps. In 1874 Gibbons moved to a house near Clapham Common in South London and in 1876 he moved again to Gower Street in Bloomsbury near the British Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Self-governing Colony
In the British Empire, a self-governing colony was a colony with an elected government in which elected rulers were able to make most decisions without referring to the colonial power with nominal control of the colony. This was in contrast to a Crown colony, in which the British Government ruled and legislated via an appointed Governor, with or without the assistance of an appointed Council. Most self-governing colonies had responsible government. Self-governing colonies for the most part have no formal authority over constitutional matters such the monarchy and the constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London serves as the ultimate avenue of appeal in matters of law and justice. Colonies have sometimes been referred to as "self-governing" in situations where the executive has been under the control of neither the imperial government nor a local legislature elected by universal suffrage but by a local oligarchy state ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
