Interplanetary Essays

Interesting that the header says "Created and Designed in Great Britain", yet the side selvages say "Printed in USA" and the copyright is 1959, Springfield, Mass.

Upon further checking these are the same cinderellas currently offered by Mystic Stamp Company with the following description:




http://www.mysticstamp.com/viewProd...sp?sku=MA311

I saw that, and found the information on Mystic's website......they are a very interesting concept, given whom they were created for

Hello bstrent, welcome!

SCF Member Rod222 has posted a different colour of the 30 value bottom stamp in this Canada Cinderella thread:
https://goscf.com/t/20133&whichpage=7#193851

These stamps were designed and created as part of "Dan Dare" freebies to be given away with Lever Brothers' Lifebuoy Soap in Great Britain. The Dan Dare strip in the Eagle comic of the 50s to 60s was the creation of Frank Hampson and his team of artists. It is likely then that they were created in the UK. And printed both in the UK and the USA. This would explain the variation in colour printing between the UK and the USA issues. There were some other designs which I have scanned.

I read recently that there is a projected movie about Dan Dare and his fellow space adventurers in the pipeline. Lets hope the production company keep the 1950s 'Art Deco" type feel to the design.

Terry

Ooh, I quite like those, Terence Collins!

Hi Zuzu,

Yes they are neat. A set of the original 1953 Eagle/Lifebuoy booklet stamps sold in march 2013 on the bay for £123.99. There is an Eagle/Lifebuoy folder set listed at present on offer on the bay for £89.99, item no.400453097973. I have found out a bit more about them, there were 32 stamps in all given away in pairs, but it seems that the MacIntosh versions might not have been legit, although they appear to have been produced from the same plates. There was also an Australian issue, possibly legit, and a Royal Mail bona fide stamp featuring Dan Dare and the Mekon issued Feb 1994. More info here.......

http://www.dandare.info/pages/stamps.htm

Terry

A stamp essay is a proposed design for a legitimate issue that is not chosen. These are definitely cinderellas and of the subset fantasy stamps but not essays by any stretch of the imagination although the designs show a great imagination. Lovely in their own right, regardless.

Hi jobi01,

Yes you are right, they are fantasy stamps. But they were clearly designed and created in the UK in 1953 by the Frank Hampson team for the Lever Brothers' Lifebuoy soap giveaway as a promotion for Eagle comic. As such the copyright would surely have been owned by the publishers of the Eagle comic. The MacIntosh stamps are not all quite exact copies and the colours vary, though some are the same with the colours varying. So the question arises whether or not the MacIntosh/Springfield copies were a breach of the Eagle comic UK copyright, or whether there was a licensing arrangement in place. Since the 1950s various companies have owned or licensed the Dan Dare rights, most recently the UK publishers of the comic magazine Spaceship Away and the film company now producing a Dan Dare movie. Perhaps more info will pop up as interest in the movie broadens. I have a few of the originals and would quite like the whole 32.

Terry