About fifteen years ago I acquired a collection of Cinderella stamps through a philatelic auction. It was advertised as an "old-time collection of poster stamps and other Cinderellas", and comprised mostly early 20th century German material, plus assorted U.S., British, and miscellaneous other items, including the item shown above, which had a label stating "Chinese (private) bicycle post - $100". I set the bicycle stamp aside, as I have a friend who had asked me to keep an eye out for stamps with bicycles, for a friend of hers who is an ardent bicycle rider. She declined the item, as the purported value was more than she could afford.
About a year ago I stumbled on this web page: http://www.raster.it/stefano/a/stamps/cinderella91-100.htm. There at the top was a stamp resembling mine, though no additional information about it. The consensus of the contributors was that its origin had never been determined. The image rang a bell, though, and I started looking through my philatelic library. Eventually I found a series of items in issues 26 though 30 (published 1987-1990) of "ATALAYA," a bi-annual magazine (in English) devoted to Cinderellas, published by Christer Brunström of Sweden. I subscribed for a short period in the late 1990's, and ordered all the back issues he had at that time. Mr. Brunström's readers had contributed information revealing that their were four "denominations" of the stamp - 4, 5, 6, and 7 - in red, green, and blue, and that the "6" occurred both with and without the large numeral in the top right corner. Most significant, however, was the information from a collector in England (a member of the Bicycle Stamp Club), who said that he owned the remains of a box which had contained a pair of rubber bicycle pedals, with a dark green example of the bicycle stamp stuck to the cover. The collector dated his find in the 1938-1950 era, and believed the origin to be India, as Indian companies produced bicycle products for the British market at that time.
I emailed the collectors named on the "weird stamps" page, one of whom sent me the e-dress of Norman Batho, who had originated the inquiries in ATALAYA(!) None of them had learned anything new, but Mr. Batho sent me high-res scans of all the stamps he owned. The "weird stamps" site is no longer active, so I decided to create this web page, in hopes it will generate further information.
Based on all the above, then, the current theory is that these stamps were used by an Indian manufacturer of bicycle pedals, as size labels on its boxes. That seems plausible, but with only the one box to go on, it is not conclusive.
The table below lists all the known "denominations," colors, and types of the stamps. The color images were
contributed by Mr. Batho, while the B&W ones are reproduced (with permission) from
ATALAYA. If any viewer can supply scans of designs or colors not shown here, or further information
concerning the origin and use of these stamps, please email the author of this page:
| Description | Colors | Size (of design area) | Image(s) (All are to same scale) |
| "4" large numeral | Red | 41x29 mm |
|
| "5" large numeral 2 types - note "5's", handle-bars, position of background pattern | Red, Blue | 23.5x19 mm |
TYPE 1
TYPE 2
|
| "6" small numeral 2 types - note "6's", floral pattern beneath bicycle | Red, Green | 23.5x19 mm |
TYPE 1
TYPE 2
|
| "6" large numeral | Red, Blue | 23.5x19 mm |
|
| "7" large numeral 2 types - note "7's"
| Red, Blue | 41x29 mm |
TYPE 1
TYPE 2
|
NOTES (from ATALAYA)
One collector has a gummed block of 6 (3x2) of "6" with small numeral, red, with straight edge at left.
Another collector says that the "7's" have a multiple watermark of the stamp's central design.
Note "cancel" on "7", type 2, Stamp is red, with blue cancel. The letters at the bottom of the cancel appear to read "N I I".
If any viewer can supply scans of designs or colors not shown above, or further information concerning the origin and
use of
these stamps, please email the author of this page:
ATALAYA is an international magazine devoted to Cinderellas, “dead” country stamps and other philatelic oddities. It is published twice a year by Christer Brunström in co-operation with the Halmstad Philatelic Society in Sweden.
For a sample copy of Atalaya write to:
Christer Brunström, Kungsgatan 23, 302 45 Halmstad, Sweden
and enclose US$3 or €3 in cash, or three IRCs
To contact the publisher via e-mail: ChristerBrunstrom@utb.halmstad.se
Collectors of bicycles on stamps should consider joining the Bicycle Stamp Club, which has a web site at http://members.tripod.com/~bicyclestamps/, and publishes an excellent quarterly magazine named Bicycle Stamps.
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Created -- 07/27/2005
Revised -- 03/26/2006
