Collection of 24 "Cinderella" Souvenir Sheets (by Clive Feigenbaum)

Collection of 24 different non-postal souvenir sheets, produced by the colourful English stamp dealer Clive Feigenbaum for sale to collectors. All of these territories (Eynhallow, Nagaland, Dhufar, Staffa, etc.) are essentially fictional labels used in place of the country’s name. Some of these sheets may show the same illustration, but with a different "facial value" in that case. They were all produced in a cancelled-to-order (CTO) manner, much like many other stamps destined for the philatelic market around the world.

Mr. Feigenbaum, a former chairman of the prestigious London-based Stanley Gibbons group, was expelled from the Philatelic Traders Society (PTS) in 1970 for not making explicit that the labels he was selling were not genuine postage stamps. But, he nevertheless continued to produce ''stamps'' for all kinds of weird and wonderful places until his death in 2007! Their lack of postal validity is why these stamps are considered to be "Cinderellas", a playful philatelic term referring to the folk tale of the same name!

Although, it must be stated that most other Cinderellas are explicitly produced as non-postage memorabilia, unlike the ones from Mr. Feigenbaum, where he did put a fictional country and facial value, which is the main reason why he was considered so controversial. Several decades after their first appearance, these remain a nice collectable curiosity in their own right, provided you know their backstory!

PS: The meaning of the Cinderella reference is that, much-like the character, these unofficial stamps are sometimes considered greatly inferior by some collectors, just like Cinderella herself was considered an inferior by her in-law family. Other philatelists, who appreciated the passion behind these stamps, codified the term "Cinderella" as a reminder that, sometimes, beauty can also be found in the eyes of the beholder!