I am in the process of gathering information on the numismatic history of malta and I was wondering if anybody had a good reference books or articles i might not have, i have done some extensive internet search and my next step is to go the the local bookstores and see what they have. thank you all in advance for your responses.
Are you looking for information on the island republic in the Mediterranean Sea, the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, which formerly ruled the island and is now limited in territory to a few office buildings in Rome, or both?
Pawjtr,Malta has been issuing coins since 1972,but the British 1/3 Farthing (1/12d.) was issued for use in Malta along with the other British coinage. As to the Order of Malta,they issued coins right up until 1798,when Malta was invaded by the French. The Order of Malta has been issuing a lot of medal-coins in Tari & Scudi denominations only in Proof.
I am going to try to reply to both in the same post. Roy, I would like to learn about both the order of knights of malta and the republic, but my direct purpose was to learn about the British stewardship of the island. Aidan, I am specifically looking for the Reasoning behind the minting of the 1/3 farthing piece. i know that it was designed to replace an already existing local denomination, but I do not know why so few were minted (avg 288,000) compared to roughly the same number of people (the current census has it at 366,000) I would also like to know who decided that Britain should make a coin specifically for the use of such a small country and what is was used for locally.
Click here for an introduction to the fascinating history of this ancient organization. The Italian branch maintains offices in Rome, and claims to be excercising it's sovereignty by issuing "coins", the exact status of which is open to argument. Although it has no real territory, it has a much greater claim to legitimacy than many self-proclaimed "governments". The Order has Permanent Observor status with the U.N., and is recognized as an independent government by a number of countries. The international ham radio community considers the Order to be a "country" as well, even though the International Telecomunications Union has not assigned it any radio stations callsign block. There's a lot more interesting stuff here, and at some of the other 300,000+ "hits" on a Google search.
Pawjtr,the British 1/3 Farthing was issued to replace the copper Grano of the Knights of Malta. The population of Malta was a lot smaller in 1913 (when the last 1/3 Farthings were issued) than it is now.When Malta adopted its own coinage in 1972,there was 10 Mils in 1 Cent,& 100 Cents in a Pound (1,000 Mils in a Pound).There was a currency reform around 1983 in which the use of Mils was abolished,& the Pound was officially renamed the Lira (plural;Liri).Most people still refer to the currency unit as the Maltese Pound to distinguish it from the Cypriot Pound,which was divided into 1,000 Mils from 1955 to 1982,& 100 Cents since 1983.Both Malta & Cyprus are the only 2 members of the British Commonwealth which are also members of the European Union.Ireland can technically be regarded as being a British Commonwealth-associated country.
roy, thank you, that is great stuff. Aidan, thank you also, but that still does not answer the question of who in the govt (british or maltese) decided that the grano should be replaced with a british coin at all. I will have to research the monetary system of India and see if there are any similarities. With the same monarch and I am hoping the same mint personel, that the path of coinage would be the same. Still looking for any kind of authoritative work of this history. Any idea how to get the british numismatic journal?
Pawjtr,the Maltese were assisted by the British in their revolt against the French (1798-1800).There had been a plan to hand Malta back to the Order of Malta,but the Maltese decided that Malta should become a part of the British Empire.As a result,the coinage of Great Britain became the official Maltese currency.The Maltese did issue notes during the 19th Century,but these are inscribed in Italian,even though they were denominated in Pounds Sterling. I have got the 2/- note that was overprinted in 1940 on an unissued 1/- note of 1918,a 1 Pound note depicting King George VI & the George Cross, & a 1 Pound note issued shortly after the decimal changeover in 1972.
