It was the only stamp issued by Malta for two and a half decades, and during this period various reprints were made with differences in colour shade, perforation and watermark.

An experimental free daily postal service for letters and newspapers was introduced between Valletta, the Three Cities, Gozo and some of the larger towns in Malta on 10 June 1853.

The government informed the Crown Agents of this on 30 April 1859, who then commissioned the British printing company De La Rue to engrave a die for the new stamp.

[2] The stamp depicts a portrait of Queen Victoria wearing a diadem, set on an octagonal shield surrounded by olive leaves.

[5] The introduction of the stamp was announced in a Government notice dated 16 November 1860, and it was issued on 1 December[6] so as to coincide with the start of the financial year.

[6] The earliest known use of the stamp is a letter dated 13 December 1860 which was sent by Giorgio Grognet de Vassé in Valletta to Giuseppe Said in Mosta.

[16] There were a number of stamp collectors in Malta by the mid-1860s and early philatelists (then called timbrophilists) began to identify variations in the different printings.

In a letter to the editor, the collector proposed that the islands should issue stamps featuring local symbols such as the Maltese cross which were absent from the Halfpenny Yellow.

[10] A number of forgeries of Halfpenny Yellow stamps exist, most notably by Jean de Sperati.

[18] The ½d green which replaced the Halfpenny Yellows was in regular use from 1885 to 1903, and due to its long period of use it is a very common stamp.

[22] For the occasion, the company also held an exhibition and talks about Maltese postal history at the National Library of Malta between 2 December 2010 and 8 January 2011.