This year’s Christmas set will be issued by MaltaPost’s Philatelic Bureau on Monday, the 30th of November 2009. The set depicts images of three nativity paintings from the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta and from a private collection.

The stamps were designed in-house by MaltaPost p.l.c. and have values of Euro 0.19, Euro 0.37, Euro 0.63. The stamps are 44.0mm x 3+1.0mm of size with a perforation of 13.9 x 14.0 (comb). The stamps are printed on a Maltese Crosses watermarked paper by Printex Limited and are available in sheets of 10.

The Euro 0.19 stamp reproduces the painting in the manner of Alessandro Botticelli ‘Mater Admirablis’. The Euro 0.37 stamp reproduces the painting ‘Madonna and Child’ by Corrado Giacquinto. The Euro 0.63 stamp reproduces the painting ‘The Madonna and Child’ by a follower of Simone Cantarini.

Together with the stamps, this year MaltaPost p.l.c. is issuing a Christmas card bearing the image of the painting Mater Admirabilis to complement this set.

The Christmas issue and the Christmas Card will be available from all MaltaPost branches in Malta and Gozo, the MaltaPost mobile Unit and the Philatelic Bureau (tel. 25961747, email philately@maltapost.com, postal address: 305, Triq Hal-Qormi, Marsa, MTP1001). Additional information regarding this and past issues is also available from the MaltaPost website www.maltapost.com.