Christmas seals, a form of cinderella stamp, were first used as fund-raising item for a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1907. From the American Lung Association website:
"The tiny Delaware sanatorium would have to close its doors if $300 could not be raised to save it. One of its doctors explained the plight to his cousin, a Red Cross volunteer named Emily Bissell. Bissell was a veteran fundraiser, and she soon came up with a plan based on one that had worked in Denmark*: She would design and print special holiday seals and sell them at the post office for a penny each.
By the end of her holiday campaign (and after an endorsement by President Roosevelt), she and a large group of committed volunteers had raised ten times the goal and the American Lung Association Christmas Seals were born."
Anyone can issue a seal at Christmas time (some were even issued by the Nazis, according to the oh-so-credible Wikipedia), but are not technically classed as "Christmas Seals" unless they were originally sold to combat tubercolosis and, later, other respiratory diseases. If you find yourself needing some, there's an exhaustive website available for you!
I often find the postage stamp-like seals inside the random collections I purchase on eBay. As a child, I remember finding them in the depths of my Grandfather's enormous desk, stuck together, but still vibrant and colorful. I will always be a sucker for anything perforated. I still miss the sheet of "stamps" that would come in the Publishers Clearinghouse packets. Anyone else remember those?
PS - Some Danish seals on GrainEdit with a design sense I enjoy greatly.
PPS - This article was first published on our blog in 2010! I updated it just a little for this posting.
Interesting story!
Posted by: Cynthia | December 21, 2019 at 09:48 AM