Alaskan History
McGreely’s Express 1898 Private Post Between Dyea and Skaguay One of Alaska’s most unusual contributions to the history of philately, or postage stamp collecting, was the 1898 25¢ McGreely’s Express local stamp, designed for affixing to letters carried between the coastal towns of Dyea and Skaguay during the Klondike Gold Rush. It is known as a Cinderella stamp, defined as “virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration.” Named after the folk-tale Cinderella who was treated as inferior in her family, Cinderella stamps, defined by what they are not, are similarly considered inferior to postage stamps.
The Canadian Aerophilatelist, the newsletter of the Canadian Aerophilatelic Society, included a letter in the March 15, 1991 issue, dated Dec. 4, 1990, from a Mr. Murray Heifetz to Mr. R. Malott, of Nepean, Ontario, describing the history of the stamp:
“Dear Dick,
“Over the past while I have had several enquiries about the McGreely Express label sometimes found on the Klondike Airways covers prepared by Roessler. I thought it might be interesting to tell the story of this label in an issue of our CAS bulletin. The following excerpt is from one of Rosselers Stamp News.
“McGreely’s Express Stamp had a very short life. Seems to us that collectors of US locals should be interested in this. The lot that we turned up consists of about 400 stamps. When these are gone there will be no more available. The die and the stone from which they were printed were destroyed with the San Francisco earthquake - beg pardon, we mean fire.
!12
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