Halfpenny Yellow · Crown CC, reported perf 12½ × 14

Technical details

Issuing authority

Malta (British colonial administration)

Postal purpose

Postage

Currency

GBP pre-decimal

Stamp format

Reported compound-perforation variety

Designer

Not documented

Printer

Not documented

Printing process

Not documented

Stamp dimensions

Not documented

Perforation

12½ × 14 (reported reverse compound gauge)

Watermark

Crown CC

Paper

Not documented

Colour

Not documented

Quantity

Not documented

Sources & verification

The 1878 lower bound is the base compound issue's availability; 1913 is the handbook documentary bound, not the end of a proven production run. Séfi XII says 14 × 12½ or vice versa; its reference-list 12 × 14 omits the half, while XIV explicitly gives 12½ × 14. Bonnici later records only 14 × 12½ for both supplies. No exact first appearance, particular shade or measured modern specimen is asserted. A physical gauge check is essential; an ordinary 14 × 12½ image does not authenticate this orientation.

Research notes: Séfi's contemporary account expressly states both orientations, but Bonnici's later invoice/specimen-based study identifies the two compound supplies as 14 × 12½ only. This is an unresolved reconciliation gap, not independent modern confirmation of the reverse gauge.

• A. J. Séfi, The Postage Stamps of Malta (1913), chapter XII, printed p. 23: compound gauge and vice versa ↗
• A. J. Séfi, The Postage Stamps of Malta (1913), chapter XIV: reference list explicitly repeats 12½ × 14 ↗
• Alfred Bonnici, Halfpenny Yellow study, chapters 5–6, PSM 7(2), 1977, printed p. 6: later documented classification lists 14 × 12½ ↗

Image & attribution

Image permission not established

One selected reported reverse-gauge variety. The existing 1878 structural record remains the ordinary 14 × 12½ type; no shade or individual printing is duplicated.