G.b. With Malta Cancel

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Hello Everyone,

I came across this in a lot I recently purchased. I do not collect G.B. stamps and was curious as to why this has a Malta cancellation. Is it rare to have a complete Malta cancellation like this? I can not determine SC. number because of the paper type i.e. blue or not. Any help is much appreciated.

GB stamp valid use abroad. With the complete cancel.Not scarce.
http://www.globalphilateliclibrary....16670855.pdf

GB stamps were valid for use in the colony of Malta until 1884, so your example isn't a rarity.

However, it looks as if your Penny Red is Perf 16, which according to Stanley Gibbons is uncommon in Malta, and known only with Small Crown watermark (SG no. Z25, cancellation type Z5, catalogue price £375).

The Queen's head looks to me like Die I. The corner letters may be Alphabet I or Alphabet II. But the paper of a Die I Perf 16 stamp ought to be blued enough for the blue to be visible even in a scan.

The more I look at it the more it looks "wrong". Perhaps somebody who knows more than I will explain.

It would be a perf. 14 in 1879 surely?

The cancellation appears to be a little watery but who's faking a Malta duplex on a penny red?

I've checked against my perf 14 and perf 16 examples, and I'm confident it's perf 16. Count the teeth at the top.

It's a late date for perf 16, but not impossible. What puzzles me is the combination of (what looks like) Die I and (apparently) non-blued paper.

According to SG, perf 16 exists used in Malta only with the Small Crown watermark, so even if the head is Die II the paper ought to be blued.

I said it looks "wrong", because I can't explain it.

It looks like a plate 158, but the SG QV specialised says this plate doesn't exist perforated. The other candidate that caught my eye is plate 185, which does exist perforated.

The blueing was eliminated in 1857, but could something have happened if the stamp was originally blued but hadn't been used for over 20 years following its supply?

Bobby, I haven't heard of blueing fading, but I'm not an expert. I think there must be some blueing in the paper that isn't visible in the scan. Otherwise we're looking at an impossibility.

thefinfin, if you're reading, I think you can be congratulated on having picked up something that looks commonplace at first glance but is really quite unusual and interesting.

Plate 185 was put to press in July 1854, so if it was still in use in 1857 maybe that's the answer as to why we're not seeing any blueing?

Interesting indeed