Oil-related "cinderellas" (seals, stickers, private stamps, etc.):
(items are not all shown to same scale)

Some cinderellas look just like postage stamps (and are denominated just like stamps). This
1923 example from Azerbaijan is a privately printed issue produced during a time
of great inflation, perhaps to defraud the postal administration but most likely
also for stamp collectors.




This unusual cinderella stamp, issued to raise
funds for the Oil Workers International Union
carries a $3 voluntary assistance denomination.

Many cinderellas look like undenominated stamps and are stickers
or seals produced for advertising purposes. These U.S. examples
show the pride states and towns had in their petroleum industry
in earlier years.

Hotel luggage stickers from oil-producing areas commonly
featured oil derricks, rifineries or storage tanks as in this
example from Midland, Texas.

Many seals, stickers and window decals were produced by oil
companies to advertise their products. These are just a few examples
of the many thousands of such items that are related to petroleum.
These cinderellas are from the U.S., Denmark, Sweden, Germany,
France and Great Britain

Encased postage represents an unusual type of cinderella. These Danish examples,
were produced when small coinage was scarce in the WWII and immediate postwar
period. Companies thus prepared small advertising stickers (left and center),
placed valid postage stamps behind them (right), encased them in plastic
and distributed them for circulation in place of coins.

Match box cover labels also fall into the category of
cinderellas because they look much like imperforate
postage stamps when removed from the boxes. Many
hundreds are known that depict oil-related scenes.
These examples are from Hungary, Australia,
Venezuela, Sweden, the Soviet Union, and
Bolivia.

Coupons produced by oil companies are included in some cinderella
collections. These examples are from Canadian Tire, one of Canada's
largest petroleum retailers.



Many oil companies produced stickers that did not
directly feature product advertising but rather were
designed as collectibles given to people who purchased
oil and gasoline at service stations. They thus featured
illustrations of popular subjects — tourist destinations,
dinosaurs, airplanes, presidents, sports heroes and the
like. This example, from the Imperial Oil Co. of
Canada, is one of a large set depicting parks and
other attractions in Canada. Small stamp albums
typically were produced and distributed for free
to encourage collecting of the full set of stamps.

Official window decals related to oil inspection
or gasoline rationing can be an interesting part of
a petroleum-cinderella collection.




Drilling supply companies produce
some interesting petro-seals.

Petroleum exhibitions (and even philatelic expositions in
petroleum-producing areas) have been the source of seals
and stickers on many occasions. Three U.S. examples
are shown above.

One can sometimes even find proof printings of petroleum seals.
The green version above is one of several final printed seals;
the white version with wide margins is a printer's proof.

Three examples of petro-seals
produced for European expositions
in France, East Germany, and Great Britain.

Some collectors find seals related to
petroleum useage of interest and many
beautiful examples exist. The German
example above advertises "Juwel, the
best petroleum-gas stove."



© Peter A. Scholle, 2000

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