On 18 March 2014, MaltaPost will issue a set of four stamps commemorating 35 years from the End of Military Facilities Agreement and the 200th anniversary of the Malta Police Force.
The stamps have a face value of €0.26 and €1.55 and depict police boats and navy vessels respectively.
On 31 March 1979 the last British Forces left Malta and for the first time in recorded history, Malta was no longer the military base of a foreign power. Symbolically, the Royal Navy was the main protagonist in the event having been the first of the British forces to arrive in Malta in 1800. The two vessels portrayed on the stamps, HMS Alexander (1800) and HMS London (1979), are depicted in the vicinity of Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Michael respectively.
The Malta Police Force is one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded in its present form on 12 July 1814 by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta Sir Thomas Maitland. Since then, responsibility for the management and control of the executive police rested with the Inspector General of Police (now the Commissioner of Police), who received his orders from the Governor. Following the granting of self-governance in 1921, the Police Department became the responsibility of the Malta Government. The police boats depicted on the stamps appear against the background of two harbours, that of Marsamxett and of Sliema. A police station appears in the background of each one.
The stamps have been designed by Cedric Galea Pirotta and will be issued in sheets of 8 stamps. Each stamp measures 40mm x 33mm with a perforation of 13.9 x 14.0 (comb.) bearing the Maltese Crosses watermark. Printex Ltd will print 96,000 stamps of the €0.26 denomination and 48,000 of the €1.55 stamp.
The stamps will be available as from Tuesday 18 March from all Post Offices in Malta and Gozo. Orders may be placed online at www.maltaphilately.com or by mail from the Philatelic Bureau, MaltaPost p.l.c. 305, Qormi Road, Marsa, MTP 1001; Telephone: 2596 1740, e-mail: info@maltaphilately.com.
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