World Stamps
Kingdom of Sedang local post stamps have great appeal

Stamp Market Tips by Henry Gitner
and Rick Miller
Cinderella stamps (stamplike labels)
are highly collectible in their own right, but some have great appeal for
general and specialist area collectors. The seven stamps issued by the Kingdom
of Sedang are among these.
Sedang was established by the French
filibusterer Marie-Charles David de Mayrena (1842-90) in what is today part of
Vietnam. His career as an oriental potentate was remarkably similar to that of
the Russian adventurer in Ethiopia, Nickolay Stepanovich Leontiev (1862-1910),
who claimed the Ethiopian title of Count of Abai.
Mayrena was a former French official
who owned a plantation in French Indochina. In 1888 the king of Siam began
claiming territory that the French considered part of their fiefdom. Mayrena
persuaded the French colonial administration to send him to negotiate treaties
for the French government with the Bahnar, Rengao and Sedang tribes.
Once on the scene, Mayrena instead
sold the tribes on the idea of forming an independent kingdom with him as King
Marie I of Sedang. In 1888 he commissioned a set of seven postage stamps for
his kingdom. These are local post stamps (a type of cinderella) and are not
listed in the Scott catalogs. These stamps are of interest to cinderella stamp
collectors as well as collectors of France and area, French Indochina and
Vietnam.
In 1889 Mayrena left his kingdom to
interest France, Britain, Prussia or Belgium in annexing or exploiting the area
under conditions that would enrich him. A Belgian financier proved the most
interested and supplied him with arms and money in exchange for the mineral
rights to his kingdom. However, the French Navy seized the arms as contraband
and refused to allow him to reenter the country. King Marie I of Sedang died
under mysterious circumstances, probably by poisoning, on Nov. 11, 1890, in
Malaya.
According to Focus on Forgeries
by Varo Tyler, the stamps of Sedang were forged in 1889, almost before the ink
was dry on the genuine stamps. The forgeries were produced by French banker and
businessman Dorsan Astrue and sold in great quantity to stamp dealers.
Fortunately, the forgeries are easily
detected. According to Tyler, “Four values expressed in two words fail to
include a hyphen between the words. Two fingers on the hand on the right of the
coat of arms clearly touch the frameline. In the word ‘SEDANG,’ the ‘E’ has
virtually no serifs, and the triangle in the upper part of the ‘A’ is too
large.”
If you are interested in acquiring this fascinating set of stamps, you might be advised to seek them from a specialist dealer. Of the 17 lots offered as of early January on eBay at prices ranging up to $130, all are obvious forgeries. A complete set of seven genuine stamps did sell not long ago for about $85. Caveat emptor.
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