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Sedang
Bolivia 1863
There are many types of Cinderella stamps, but here we will concentrate on a few main categories. First, those issued in the name of a known country, exemplified by the stamp from Bolivia above, printed a few years before this country officially issued its first stamps. Another version of these are the stamps representing a non-stamp issuing region or town in an ordinary country. Such an issue is the stamp below right, said to represent Bokhara, a town in present-day Uzbekistan (by the way, this is a forgery of a Cinderella stamp!). A further example is the Scottish stamp below left.
Scotland Bukhara
By far the most common however are stamps representing more or less "homemade" fictitious countries. The great classic of this category is perhaps the stamps issued in the name of Sedang (top left). This country was said to be situated somewhere in present day Viet Nam. For some time this was accepted by the collectors. Later however, it came to light that the stamps were actually printed (and cancelled!) in a cellar in Paris by a man named Marie David de Mayrena.
Bateken Sealand
The Sedang stamp has since attracted many followers. Another classic is the stamp from Bateken (above). This country was said to be situated somewhere in Equatorial Africa, but of course was never found. A modern variant is the stamp from Sealand (right above) issued in 1966. It represents an artificial country, namely an oil platform at the mouth of the river Thames. Imagination alone sets the limits!