Finland - Cinderella In Black

I am looking for the story on this one. It is mint, with no denomination. There is a printed (1 penni) denomination on the reverse and this tiny amount leads me to think it is fairly old.

Any information out there?

The mourning stamp was designed by artist Axel Gallen (Gallen-Kallela) and financed and issued by bookstore owner Wentzel Hagelstam.

The background was that Finnish stamps no longer were allowed to be used on foreign mail from Finland. This event really awoke the Finnish patriotism.

Sale of the mourning stamp began quite publicly through newspaper ads, by word of mouth, and through a circular letter issue. The following column appeared in the August 11, 1900 "Keski-Suomi" paper:

"A BEAUTIFUL STAMP displaying Finland's colored coat-of-arms on black background with the printed words "SUOMI FINLAND" in white lettering has recently appeared in bookstores. The stamp is very suitable on foreign postal deliveries, cost 1 penni apiece, and is available in every bookstore around the country. As far as we (at the paper) understand, the profit from the sale of this stamp will go for general welfare purposes. In order to further the idea of this specimen, it would be advisable that everyone unite in using this particular stamp."

The following are from a letter of introduction written by Hagelstam:
"It might therefore be advisable after Russian postage has replaced Finnish stamps, that the home locality right of Finnish letter mail be indicated with the coat-of-arms stamp(s), to be attached to the envelope right-hand corner, in the usual postage stamp spot, so as to fulfill their purpose, without being considered postage stamps." "Great quantities of these Finnish coat-of-arms stamps (of which one sample is enclosed) have been printed from a design by Axel Gallen. In the spirit of (Finnish) patriotism, these most certainly will be used all over our country from August 14th onward, and be seen on every letter cover in addition to a Russian stamp." The coat-of-arms stamps were available from the undersigned and only by enclosing with the order, a cash amount. The specimens were sold for 1 penni each. Wholesalers received a 20% discount for a minimum order of 500. "Those who wish to be sufficiently prepared when the coat-of-arms date of use begins, in case of great demand, should right-away order larger quantities." Helsinki, July 30th, 1900.

Thank you very much for the information, Timm. That is exactly what I need to complete a write-up on this interesting Cinderella issue. I wonder if there are covers out there with the Cinderella used in conjunction with a Russian issue as it was intended. That would really be something to have in a display.

All of the information you need is at:

http://www.jiv.dk/finland/stamps_mourning.php

That's what I love about this hobby... something new to learn about every day~!

There are six types?!?

Yikes.

No kidding! This is great information, all new to me.

Yes and no... It really depends the source you are looking at. Specialized Finnish catalogs (Norma, LaPe) divide these to only two subtypes with clearly different backprint style.

But the more specialized sources simply start 'splitting hairs'.

It's curious how quite the same thing happened in Catalonia about the same time (years 1899/1900) when Spanish post clerks were instructed to tear any Catalan patriotic cinderella stuck to any cover or postcard. So these cinderellas (that can be seen on "next door thread") are very rare on cover or card, while pretty common mint.