A stamps exhibition is currently on show at Il-Ħaġar museum in Victoria.

Part of the collection, donated by Melitensia collector Wolfgang Juncker, features some 50 defects and varieties on Malta stamps. The range includes classic items such as the famous One Penny Victorian overprint.

Defects tend to be created when stamps are overprinted, also because it is often a hurried job. Another clear printing defect is an inverted ‘postage’ on the 1920s Melita.

Missing colours are represented through examples such as the centennial Great Siege celebration in 1965, the 1971 Christmas set and the GWU commemoration in 1983.

Afficionados will also be attracted to missing shading, as seen in the 1963 Freedom from Hunger collection and various omitted perforations, such as in the 1973 Definitives.

But an exceptional and groundbreaking Definitive set – designed by Emvin Cremona for the newly independent state in 1965 – makes up the bulk of the exhibition.

In fact, as many as 16 values are included, providing a gamut of defects and imperfections.

There are missing perforations, double prints and shifts. Omitted colours result in spectacular omissions, such as no country name, no value or a ‘faceless Queen’.

The gold colour, with which Cremona experimented a lot, also offers strange misplacements.

Visitors to the exhibition, who are being encouraged to bring along with them a magnifying glass to enjoy an even better experience, can also pick up copies of the Gozo Philatelic Society’s periodical.

Visiting hours are 9am-5pm seven days a week. Entrance is free.