Cinderellas, non-postal labels that often look like stamps. Did they have a use in our mail system? Promoting companies or events by decorating the envelope is the obvious use, but there is another use, which means you need to be more careful when looking through that box of covers at the local stamp fair. Early envelopes did not necessarily have gummed flaps to seal them up, and they were certainly not self-adhesive as we are used to today. So how were they sealed, with an embossed wax seal or a gummed label?
The illustrated item did exactly that; it was on the back of the envelope, holding the flap down. It was on an envelope posted from Christchurch to Manakau (just south of Levin) in 1917 and is the earliest New Zealand Scouting label seen. How many more like this are around?
