Cinderella Labels On Modern Junk Mail?

This junk mail from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) arrived today and caught my eye.

What caught my eye are three stamp-like adhesive labels for Policy, Science, and Education along with a standard non-profit org non-denominated stamp. The back of the envelope has the AAAS return address in plain text.

Wonder was this targeted marketing, or just coincidence? Anyone else get one?

I didn't see anything like this in person, but I venture to guess that any label or Cinderella stamp affixed to an envelope such as that shown, accomplished its purpose in getting the recipient to give it a second look as opposed to just throwing it in the trash as "junk mail".

Of course, Cinderella collectors would be quick to point out that you should save the entire envelope as a conversation piece. Probably it won't ever be worth more than the paper its printed on, but it does serve as an example of modern usage of Cinderella stamps, which are becoming ever increasingly scarce these days.

Thanks wt1, I kept the envelope, but should I also dig the inserts out of the recycle bin? Is there value in the contents?

my opiniion is it certainly wouldn't hurt to have the inner contents.

"JUNK MAIL"?!?!? If it was "JUNK" you would't be saving it. As a professional Direct Mail Marketer (or as you call it Junk Mail) those "stickers" were/are created to do JUST the thing you do/did … open and look inside. However, you took it a step forward. Keep the mail entire package. It supports what the stickers are about when you go to sell your miniature piece of postal history. :)

Hal

Where did the term 'cinderella' come from?

From Cinderella, the scullery maid !

Just like Wicked Witch came from Kansas. Now a serious answer please?

I guess Cinderella looked like something she really wasn't.

And that is how to catch a man.

I think the term is probably derived from Cinderella (the fairy tale) which Wiki defines as follows:




Wiki also goes on to suggest that...




Personally, I prefer the term "poster stamp" (which is often used interchangeably with "cinderella stamp") as virtually all of them contain some kind of illustration or graphic that pertains to a subject or event of some sort. The fact that it serves no postal use is where the item gets categorized as a "cinderella" or "poster stamp". In fact, back in the 1930s there was a "Poster Stamp Bulletin" newsletter that was published about collecting these sort of things and one interesting point they made is that a "poster stamp" was defined as containing four or more colors (I didn't know that before).

An excerpt from an article on "poster stamps" elaborates on it a bit further as follows:

thanks for the explanation.
Tom

You see, I was being serious !




Cinderella of the famous Fairy Tale was poor, forgotten and unloved. Much like the 'small pieces of printed paper that looked like postage stamps but had no postal value'.

Then one day, with the help of a Fairy Godmother, Cinderella was invited to the ball but she had to leave before midnight or turn into a pumpkin. She danced with the handsome Prince and fell in love and the Prince fell in love with her. In her haste to get home before the fateful hour she lost one of her Glass slippers. But the Prince found the slipper and found Cinderella and they lived happily ever after.
It was at this point that 'Cinderella' collecting took it's rightful place in the world of Philately.

When the connections were made may not be known but UK's Cinderella Stamp Club was formed in the late 1950's.

wt1's nice piece on Poster stamps was a great read, but while Poster stamps are classed as Cinderellas, not all Cinderellas are Poster stamps.

Some words and terms from that famous Fairy Tale have made their way into the Hobby and one can find 'Glass Slipper auctions', 'Cinderella pumpkins' and the like.

Quite a fairy tale in itself, this art of collecting Cinderellas !

Londonbus1....CSC member and collector of 'pieces of paper that look like stamps but have no postal value'!

You were and I stand corrected.

For anyone who may not have the link, if you're interested in reading some of the old Poster Stamp Bulletin newsletters from the 1936-1951, the link below is a treasure trove of such information:

http://www.alphabetilately.org/PSB-index.htm

I think I've read them all twice !
Great reading indeed.