MALTA½dGeorge V · WAR TAX halfpennyImage unavailable
Image permission not established
1917–1918 / Heritage
George V · WAR TAX halfpenny
War Tax overprints — 1917–1918
Denomination½d
Issue date1917–1918
Only this release range is established; the individual issue year remains unverified.
The story behind the issue
Two overprinted royal portrait stamps served wartime tax purposes. Identifiable examples show George V on the halfpenny and Edward VII on the threepenny. Printing and packing dates are documented, while exact release dates remain under review.
Technical details
- Issuing authority
- Malta Post Office
- Postal purpose
- Postage
- Currency
- GBP pre-decimal
- Designer
- Not documented
- Printer
- De La Rue (base stamps and WAR TAX overprint)
- Printing process
- Not documented
- Stamp dimensions
- Not documented
- Perforation
- Not documented
- Watermark
- Multiple Crown CA
- Paper
- Not documented
- Colour
- Deep green
- Quantity
- Not documented
Sources & verification
Partially verifiedHalfpenny identity is supported by inspected specimens and specialist research. Packing records of 22 October and 3 November 1917 do not establish its first sale day; conflicting retrospective dates remain unresolved.
- Peter Fernbank, BWISC Bulletin 201, June 2004, p.27 — Malta halfpenny packing records ↗
- British Empire World War I Tax Stamps, exhibit PDF p.12 — George V halfpenny specimen ↗
- Andrew McClellan, Revenue Reverend — Malta War Tax halfpenny watermark and printer ↗
Image & attribution
Image permission not established
The two basic denomination/portrait combinations only. Dates are explicitly unresolved within 1917–1918; no shade, overprint, plate or watermark varieties are counted. A tax's effective date and a printer's packing date are not treated as a stamp's release date.
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