Over the past two months the inventorying and processing of the exceptional Dr. Herbert A. Trenchard donation has continued. On a weekly basis as materials have been identified and cataloged, the donation has added to the breadth and scope of the APRL collection, most notably with many welcome additions to the library’s auction catalog (domestic and international) and journal collections. So too many of the books from Dr. Trenchard’s considerable library have been included in the library’s holdings as either first or second copies. Along with these much needed areas of literature, the donation has included many unique philatelic collections that will inevitably become part of the APRL’s archival collections.
One of these philatelic collections is that of stamp dealer cinderella issues. As a lifelong student and researcher of the history of the hobby around the world, Dr. Trenchard collected many different types of philatelic material related to the hobby's history. Past columns highlighting the donation dealt with international cinderella issues and stamp dealer covers. This latest column is a combination of those two collecting areas, that being stamp dealer cinderella issues.
From the earliest days of philatelic commerce, stamp dealers around the world have created imaginative and inventive materials to welcome buyers and advertise their businesses. What better means to encourage and invite sales than cinderella issues.
Eugene Klein of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an internationally known stamp collector, stamp dealer and auctioneer who was President of the American Philatelic Society from 1935 to 1937. Klein is also remembered as the dealer who bought the sheet of the 24-cent "Inverted Jenny" air mail stamps from its original owner, William T. Robey.
Along with Klein, other dealers followed this trend of promotional cinderellas as a means of attracting philatelic commerce. Many of these issues used a similar design while incorporating well known stamp issues into the design.
So too the philatelic press saw the advantages and collectability of these issues as one of the most recognizable names in stamp collecting journalism, Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, sought to promote its publication and its longstanding editor Willard O. Wylie (editor of the journal from1896-1940).
But only part of Dr. Trenchard's collection of these advertising cinderellas pertains to American entities. The collection truly shines in color and design with an extraordinary variety of international cinderellas created for and by dealers from around the world. The collection includes dealers from nearly every country of the world including those in cities such as Berlin, London, Naples, Hong Kong, Leipzig, Florence and Paris.
One of the more iconic examples of these advertising issues in the collection of Dr. Trenchard involves the noted New York City stamp dealer Jacques Krebs. In an attempt perhaps to seek the most discriminating and knowledgeable clientele, Krebs patterned his promotional issues after one of the most acclaimed U.S. issues, the New York Postmaster’s Provisional. The Trenchard collection includes both perf and imperf varieties of Kreb's cinderellas.
This collection, like that of the international exhibition cinderellas and the stamp dealer covers previously described, will be another welcome addition to the Archives of the APRL and will provide yet another resource for researchers and philatelic historians to examine the history of the hobby in America and throughout the world.