The Postal Union for the Mediterranean (PUMed) forms part of the Universal Postal Union. Each year PUMed organises a joint stamp issue among all its members from the Mediterranean region. This year's common theme is "Handicraft Jewellery in the Mediterranean".
Jewellery is considered to have always been a part of our human history as the earliest known jewellery is reckoned to have been worn 100,000 years ago. It is worn both to embellish as well as to symbolise wealth, power and social status. Some wear jewellery as a form of art for self-expression or as part of their tradition and cultural beliefs.
For centuries the Mediterranean Sea was a refuge for many cultures and civilisations. This brought generations of artists who adopted and developed different styles and crafts that created what we recognise today as distinctive Mediterranean jewellery.
This philatelic issue reproduces items of jewellery found and produced in Malta; a set of earrings 'Tais featured on the 10c stamp, a Maltese Cross pendant on the 30c stamp and a seed pearl brooch on the 2.50 stamp. All three 19th century pieces are made from gold, and embellished with seed pearls. These three pieces of jewellery were displayed in the 2013 exhibition 'Vanity, Profanity and Worship: Jewellery from the Maltese Islands' organised by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and held at the Casino Maltese, Valletta.
