Come for the envelopes, stay for all those incredible local post office air mail stamps! Incredible “post”. One of my favorite parts about shopping on eBay is often the packages I receive when I buy something from say, Poland, is that it arrives with that country’s air mail stamps and design (though sadly not always the envelope).
My grandmother would get air mail letters from family in Israel when I was a child. I vividly remember the bordered envelopes, but was even more fascinated by the special "onion skin" paper the letters were written on... so light and crinkly and somewhat translucent.
And, as we’ve so often learned, attempts to “standardize” something often has the exact opposite effect. Amazing research and writing, as always, Paul. Happy New Year!
Paul, thanks for this deep-dive! I always thought the Air Mail was designed to be patriotic Post-WWI but it was patented in 1929 so I don't think that would be why the red/blue motif was used. It is very interesting to see all of the different styles using the same motif/idea based on the original.
Thanks for not "mailing it in"!!
Come for the envelopes, stay for all those incredible local post office air mail stamps! Incredible “post”. One of my favorite parts about shopping on eBay is often the packages I receive when I buy something from say, Poland, is that it arrives with that country’s air mail stamps and design (though sadly not always the envelope).
That was really a lot of fun! Thanks!
My grandmother would get air mail letters from family in Israel when I was a child. I vividly remember the bordered envelopes, but was even more fascinated by the special "onion skin" paper the letters were written on... so light and crinkly and somewhat translucent.
And, as we’ve so often learned, attempts to “standardize” something often has the exact opposite effect. Amazing research and writing, as always, Paul. Happy New Year!
Paul, thanks for this deep-dive! I always thought the Air Mail was designed to be patriotic Post-WWI but it was patented in 1929 so I don't think that would be why the red/blue motif was used. It is very interesting to see all of the different styles using the same motif/idea based on the original.
The design with the two horizontal stripes resembles that on the top postal card illustrated here:
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/fad-to-fundamental-airmail-in-america-airmail-object-showcase-stamps-and-covers/us
A couple of the others have parallelograms. (A “postal card” is sold by the post office with prepaid postage and a preprinted stamp-like design.)
And of course a tie to the patent drawing Fig. #’s with the first examples!