Cinderellas and Labels
Also called poster stamps, charity seals.
Period: 1860s onward
The category that accounts for a large share of 'I found a rare stamp' discoveries. Christmas and charity seals, advertising labels, exhibition labels and local carriage issues all look like stamps and are not.
What you are looking at
Stamp-like labels — perforated, gummed, often colourful — that were never valid for postage.
What to check
- No denomination, or a denomination with no currency, is a strong indicator.
- No country name and no postal authority reference.
- Text like 'seal', 'label', or a charity name.
- Christmas seals — very common in the US and Scandinavia — carry a year and a charity.
- Local post and carriage labels are genuine postal items of a kind but not national issues, and sit in their own catalogues.
What it is worth
Mostly worth nothing, though some cinderellas are collected seriously and a few are valuable. The point of the category is that finding one is not finding a rare stamp.
Confused with
Revenues were valid for tax rather than postage, are genuine government issues, and are collected in their own right.
Questions about this
How do you identify cinderellas and labels?
No denomination, or a denomination with no currency, is a strong indicator. No country name and no postal authority reference.
Are cinderellas and labels valuable?
Mostly worth nothing, though some cinderellas are collected seriously and a few are valuable. The point of the category is that finding one is not finding a rare stamp.