Cinderellas - The stepchildren of stamp collecting

Sorting through the leftovers can make sense

After weeks of sorting and more weeks of cataloging, that wonderful little mixed lot from the last auction is residing nicely in stockbooks or albums. All, that is, but a pile of stamps that don't seem to be in your Scott catalogs or have spaces in your albums. What on earth are they? They look like stamps - gum, perforations, many with denominations - but they are not to be found in the usual reference material.

Welcome to the world of cinderellas. Until the late 1950's, there was no accepted terminology for this area of stamp collecting. Then a group in Great Britain began the Cinderella Stamp Society and named the area for posterity. As in the fairy tale, these are the stepchildren of stamp collecting. They reside on the fringes of philately.often regarded as trash, but some are treasures awaiting discovery. Information is the key. What it takes is the desire to research: hunt down the elusive article, foreign language catalog or reference in arcane auctions. This is truly a treasure hunt. The prize is knowledge and interesting stories. It demands more of a collector than the crossing off of want lists and the filling of album spaces. This is a treasure hunt without much of a map.

Sound like an adventure? It is.

Sound like frustration? It is. If you're up to it, it could be the opening to a whole new world of collecting and fun. Yes, fun. This is a hobby after all and it should be fun whether the joy comes from finding an elusive stamp or finding an esoteric piece of knowledge that tells you "So that's what that is!"

Let's take a broad overview of the sorts of things we could be encountering in that pile of unlisted stamps. And while we're at it, let's dispel the rumor that this stuff doesn't show up in catalogs. A good 50 to 75% of it will show up somewhere - an out-of print reference, a specialized foreign catalog, philatelic articles, etc.. We'll talk about some of those sources as we go along and in future articles. Hunting down references is also an adventure. But as to what we have before us in that pile, chances are good that some of the following will be there:

Poster Stamps

These are truly posters in miniature, stamp formatted for use as advertising on letters and invoices. Design and color make these a particularly attractive collectible. As well as advertising every conceivable product and event, they also served as publicity, including war propaganda and political advertising.

Product and Baggage Labels

Product and baggage labels are a similar but slightly different area. Not designed as a stamp but as an on-item identification and advertisement, the label is often large, colorful and topically attractive.

Charity Stamps

Charity stamps are a group whose purpose is to raise money, while publicizing the charity involved, such as the Red Cross or TB seals. They may resemble actual postage stamps, revenue stamps or poster stamps in design. Spain's Civil War produced a large quantity of material, as do many religious groups and service organizations.

Unlisted Varieties

Unlisted varieties of Scott-listed issues show up in many forms - color varieties, imperfs, proofs and essays. They are stamps, but they aren't in your catalog. Some may be footnoted or alluded to, but this is a very grey area, especially when you get to "Non-postally valid." Sometimes, what appears to be an unlisted variety is nothing more or less than a forgery, reprint or facsimile. All of these are of course collectible as such.

Unlisted Countries

Another highly disputed area is the non-Scott listed countries and issues. Are the stamps of Tannu Tuva real or not? Depends on which catalog you use, folks. Politically correct ain't just in Washington.

Fantasies

Fantasies fall into two categories . They can either be ostensibly from actual countries, wannabe countries or "elsewhere." The real and wannabe country issues are often a propaganda device or a spoof. The elsewhere issues may be propaganda, spoof or just because. There is a wide area of what is called Artistamps or mail art, done for the artistic expression rather than the philatelic.

Local and Private Posts

Local and private posts are, in fact, created to carry mail, even if only from the post office to the front door by dog. Some were created to meet a lack in the mail delivery, such as Lundy, Rattlesnake Island or strike mail posts. Some were created for the joy of creation. Some were done in competition to the postal service, such as IPSA or React. This is an area with a long history and wide parameters.

Special Service Stamps

While similar in nature to locals, special service stamps also carried mail or parcels by means other than postal. In both cases, the fees involved did not go to the postal service and thus these stamps are rarely listed in Scott. Semi-official airmail stamps hearken back to the days of barnstormers when air mail wasn't a usual government service. Parcel stamps issued by railways, bus and air carriers fall into this fascinating area.

Postal Ephemera

Postal Ephemera may be absolutely legitimate, but no one documents it. This is the paper generated by the postal authority, but not directly related to paying the fees for carrying the mail. Many countries have Official Seals, Certified or Registered labels, etc. which are not listed.

Revenue Stamps

As should be obvious by now, the stamp format was not just used to pay postage. Many stamps have been issued to serve other private and governmental purposes. Certainly the most prevalent usage has been for the collection of taxes, by way of revenue stamps. This is such a large specialty, it isn't often considered a Cinderella area anymore, but chances are very good that revenues will show up in your stack of unknowns. You will probably also find telegraph stamps in this category as well as ration stamps, union stamps and dues stamps, trading stamps, license and royalty stamps, worldwide as well as U.S.

What the hecks

You've sorted through all that, figured out what each stamp might be and lo and behold, there's still some stamps sitting there. This is the category we call "What the heck is this" In uncharted territory, we will always have those few items that simply don't seem to be any of the above, don't seem to show up in any reference. That's the frustration and the fun of cinderellas. You will never know it all. But maybe, sometime in the future, you'll be reading a book on some other subject altogether and there it is - the answer to What the heck.

It must be remembered that cinderella collecting is not an exact pursuit. There are grey areas and areas that overlap. A user of Michel, or Yvert or other specialized catalogs will say that much of this is NOT cinderella material because his catalog lists and legitimizes the material. Yes, that's so. A Local collector, a revenue collector will huff that his area is certainly not a cinderella. You will find that in many cases, a cinderella is what the other fellow collects; what you collect is the good stuff. And it is, but in the broad overview, it is also a cinderella. Just remember, in the rest of the world U.S. revenues and TB seals and telegraph stamps are not listed in their catalog - they're cinderellas.

In future columns we will discuss at length the categories we've presented here. We'll share with you the information sources where we can and bring to you some of our What the hecks. Remember, the cinderella you take to the ball may be a princess in disguise.