The post below about Walter Crosby covers reminded me that I have often wondered if he had any connection to these Clipper covers that were used in the late 1930s and early 1940s for airmail from Hawaii. (See images below)
I collect AM covers with unusual airmail borders and these are among the more attractive. I have only a few, but most (not all) are posted aboard U.S. capital ships such as battleships and heavy cruisers. My supposition is that the larger ship's stores carried these as blank envelopes whereas the smaller ships didn't have room for as much variety and did not carry them. They could have been purchased ashore as well, such as the shop shown in the upper right corner of the unused cover. I have not seen any postmarked after Dec 7, 1941.
My questions are: 1. Was Walter Crosby a producer of these blank covers? 2. If not, who did print and sell them? The American News Company in the example is listed as a distributor. 3. Why are they found with only larger ships' postmarks, or Honolulu postmarks and not the smaller destroyers, auxiliary ships, etc. and 4. Why do they not appear postmarked after the America's entry into WW II? Did the silhouettes of U.S. ships create a real or imagined security breach?
Don Sellos
Posted 11/03/2013 08:15 am
