Poster Stamps: Introduction

A poster stamp is any stamp created to advertise or commemorate a product or event. Also called Cinderellas, poster stamps promote goods, services, charities, or civic and cultural events. The golden era of poster stamps was from 1900 to 1914, though the earliest documented poster stamp dates to 1845.  The earliest dated stamp in this collection is from 1895 (at left).

Poster stamps, created for the most part by anonymous artists, were either reduced images from posters, or designs created specifically for the stamp size.  Consumers and collectors are attracted to their color, size, design, message and subject matter.

With new advertising techniques such as television and subscription magazines, charities and businesss decreased their reliance on poster stamps. By the First World War the era of the poster stamp had come to a close, but their historical messages and creative designs have continued to attract viewers.