Stamp Issuing Authorities.

Further to Ironhelms post on "Entities", I was trying to make sense of it all, and defer perhaps to a broader sense of "Issuing Authorities"
Interestingly, I could not find SMOM.

However others were...(The year when "an authority" first issued stamps)
Vatican...1935
Palestine.1918
International court of justice 1934
Eritrea 1934

"Authorities" is an interesting hiearchy and includes the lesser known such as ...
Corrientes 1855
Lubeck 1859
Cundinamarca 1870
Griqualand 1874
Nowanugger 1877
South Bulgaria 1855
New Republic 1866
Vathy 1893
Inhambane 1895
Elobey,Annobon and corisco 1903
Moheli 1906

and some more modern...
Argentine occupation of Falklands 1982
Zil Eloigne Sesel 1980
Redonda 1979 (an uninhabited island)
Turkish Cypriot post 1974

This is too broad I feel. Many 'Issuing Authorities' are purely in the Cinderella category, while an Entity at least has stamps issued for International use [not that many have been named up to now....or even will be].
Where could you not find SMOM ? Where are you looking ? I have not yet found it in a Stamps of the World catalogue, but where are you looking ?

We named SMOM, Palestinian Authority, Vatican, Eritrea and International Court of Justice. Let's finish the list if it's possible.
You mentioned Occupations in your list so are we talking about occupations too ?
And Redonda.......an uninhabited Island . The only living creatures are Birds and Goats and I doubt whether they need stamps except to suck the gum !! Hardly an authority [Even the Antiguan Authorities will say that !]

But if we are talking about former 'Nations', 'Cities', 'Occupations' etc that issued stamps, then the list is endless. [well, seemingly]. Or let us seperate and have two lists, one of former 'issuing entities' [this thread] and one of those still issuing stamps today [Ironhelms thread]. ???!!

Well I still haven't got my head around "entities" as yet.
"Issuing Authorities" lacks a concise definition from my source, but I would argue your point re "Cinderella" in fact quite the opposite, these emmissions are duly sanctioned by the appropriate governments, and I wopuld hazard a guess, sanctioned by the UPU.
If we take Redonda as a case in point, an uninhabited island, belonging to Antigua situated in the Caribean sea, between Montserrat and Nevis.
The stamps were authorised by the Antuguan governmaent in anticipation of commercial and tourist development which, to date has not materialised.
The stamps are valid for postage in Antigua.
Although we may disregard these stamps as Cinderellas, the come with due validity, and as much as we may be cynicle in our interpretation, it is no less (in my opinion) to the crass and useless issues put out by my own government in Australia, where some sets are released only to valued clientele in limited numbers.
The "Stamp issueing authorities" are to be had, authored by the well respected philatelist James Mackay, in his book, "stamp facts and feats" 1982
ISBN 0-85112-241-8

My apologies, I hit submit before spell checking.
Sorry for the elan typing that looks so ugly :(

Lists attempting to document every "authority" that ever issued stamps already float around. I think if we are heading down the road of Griqualand West, Elobey or Moheli (to pick just one example from each of three large colonial powers), then we are casting the net so wide as to be meaningless. Just my own take on it.

I do think the initial attempt to define legitimate (?) stamp issuing by an entity with no territory (practically speaking...things like an extraterritorial headquarters or palace don't give rise to having sovereign territory in my mind for the purposes of this discussion) is worth completing, as 'bus suggests. Isn't the UN already on that list, too? Or is there some reason why they don't qualify?