In the past, stamp collecting in Malta had a rather restricted meaning.

“As youngsters we used to collect every stamp that came our way, soaking them off envelopes and sticking them in copybooks with a heading of the country they represented, and exchanged our duplicates with other collectors,” recalls Alfred Bonnici, president of the Malta Philatelic Society.

Later, the young collectors would remove low-value Malta stamps from their envelopes, put them into batches of hundred for each value, and sell them to British dealer Stanely Gibbons or to Maltese stamp dealers.

“We were unaware of the term ‘postal history’. There were very few Maltese that collected Malta as a speciality. This took a long time to sink in,” says Bonnici.

It took quite a number of years for the Maltese philatelist to start collecting with a specialist mentality

Those same collectors who so enjoyed their basic hobby as young men have come a long way since then. Bonnici is happy to report that members of the society have won international awards for collections ranging from the Knights of Malta, Napoleonic and early British periods to specialist material such as village postmarks and prisoner-of-war mail.

“It took quite a number of years for the Malta philatelist to start collecting with a specialist mentality.”

An extremely rare block of four halfpenny pale brown stamps used on a local cover in 1867.

The same can be said about collecting philatelic material from particular countries, whether it was the UK, British colonies or some European or foreign country.

This year’s Maltex exhibition, organised by the society and supported by Maltapost, reflects the evolution of Maltese stamp collecting over the years. Called ‘Changes in Philately’, it includes some rare and unique choice items of Maltese philately from Bonnici’s own extensive collection as well as a wide variety of other specialised displays.

These include, for example, ‘50 years of Christmas stamps’ and ‘Greetings and Christmas cards from service personnel in Malta’.

There is a collection of stamps commemorating Malta’s 50th anniversary of independence and stamps of Brazilian Grand Prix hero Ayrton Senna.

Among many other exhibits is a selection of old postcards of Gozo, showing scenes of Malta’s sister island at the turn of last century. There is even a junior section, showing different currencies used on Malta stamps over the years.

A temporary branch post office will be open and mail posted at this office will receive a special handstamp. Stamp dealers will be in attendance to cater for collectors’ needs and to provide advice.

The event will be held at the Green Lounge of the Hotel Phoenicia from Friday to Sunday, between 9am and 6pm on Friday and Saturday, and from 9am to noon on Sunday. Admission is free. President Marie Louise Colerio Preca will open the exhibition tomorrow.