Portrait Cinderellas From 1880's?

This interesting cinderella stamp was provided by a colleague.



It was attached to a letter (unfortunately undated) written by Richard Langford Stephenson, born 1826 in Perthshire, Scotland. His career in the church led him from Montreal to Buckingham, Canada East to Pakenham and Hawkesbury, Canada West and then to Perth, Canada West (Ontario) where he was Rector of the Anglican Church from 1857 until his death in August 1893. The stamp is most likely a portrait of Rev. Stephenson, and based on the portrait, I would guess that the stamp was printed in the 1870's or 1880's.

If anyone has similar types of stamps showing portraits but no other inscriptions, please share images and information. Thanks!

Nice one CindyCan2

A cinderella most definately. I once heard that labels such as the one you scanned are called 'vanity' labels.

Chimo

Bujutsu

These "photo" stamps were offered by several types of retailers, in order to drum up business and get customers into the stores. Once you bought these (which were sold at, or below, cost) and ran out, you were likely to come back and order more, since the negative was on file.

In addition, the retailers offered a quality product at a time when virtually no households owned cameras. They have minimal connection to philately except for the format. I could be wrong, but I think they were "invented" in Europe, not the U.S.