Midnight Angel Cinderella - Used As Postage

This cover from my USA postal history collection was mailed from Fresno, California, USA to Des Moines, Iowa, USA, sometime around 1995 or 1996, the exact date is not legible. The cover contained an OCR stub and a MICR check to pay the sender's insurance premium. The cover is franked with a Midnight Angel cinderella, similar to design A2321, listed in the Scott Catalogue. This design was used for Scott #3012 (booklet) and #3018 (coil). The cinderella also has a simulated printed cancel for SANTA CLAUS IN DEC 25 PM as part of the design. In the second scan, I placed a used #3012 below the cinderella, for size comparison to a real postage stamp. No year date on the cinderella in the lower left corner. Obviously, this cinderella was never intended to carry the mail, but it did!

My questions: Does anyone know who created this cinderella? Does the actual town of Santa Claus, Indiana, USA provide a clue to the source? Anybody have a sheet of these, or other examples of how they were intended to be used? Perhaps they came with a box of stationery as flap seals?

One of the mysteries in my collection, I have wondered about this one for many years. Perhaps somebody knows.

Thanks in advance,
Linus

What makes you so sure that this is not a 3021?

I assume you mean 3012, as a 3021 is an antique automobile stamp.

See my second scan. The cinderella is "huge" in comparison to the 3012 example I laid on the cover below the cinderella.

I have a Bug Bunny stationery set from this time period, in a cool Bugs Bunny tin, in my collection. The title page of the stationery set is scanned below. There are not any Bugs Bunny seals in this set, but perhaps the USPS had a license agreement for this cinderella with somebody who got permission to make this seal.

My only other thought is... Santa Claus was paying up his liability insurance on the old sleigh, just before Christmas!



Linus