Yozhgorod Zemstvo stamp latest cinderella from Alan Brignull

Letterpress operator Alan Brignull of England recently sent me a new cinderella stamp he created, a fantasy Zemstvo stamp picturing a hedgehog and apparent Cyrillic text.

The stamp is mounted on a sort of approval card bearing the following text:

“The postal system of imperial Russia served only the larger towns and cities, but from 1864 regional authorities were permitted to run local posts. Several thousand different stamps were issued, such as this example from Yozhgorod, presented with compliments by the Popesgrove Philatelic Co.”

Alan didn’t go into detail about what inspired him to create a fantasy Zemstvo stamp, but it’s nicely done. It looks just real enough to make someone stop for a second look, but not so real as to cause confusion, and that’s just about perfect for a cinderella.

Published 2018-07-30