An Austrian Postal Card Puzzle

I found the postal card illustrated below in the $1 box at a stamp show earlier this month and purchased it as a Nassau Street stamp dealer cover. The first part of the puzzle is, I cannot figure out why the card was sent to Warner. Surely not to advertise a special TWA flight from Vienna to Squaw Valley, California, to attend the 1960 winter Olympics. Warner was in NYC, why would he be flying to California from Vienna?

Secondly, there is no message on the reverse. Only a canceled Austrian stamp that appears to be Sc. 532, the 60 groshen from the regional costumes series of 1948-1952, and a hand stamp in the lower left corner of the Philatelist, which I take to be a Vienna philatelic publication. Why is the stamp there and who canceled it? The cancel doesn't look like one found in U.S. post offices. Strangely, the reverse also bears a Olympic Valley, California, postmark dated Feb. 5, 1960

So what am I missing about this card? Who actually posted it, TWA or the Philatelist? If by the Philatelist why use a TWA card instead of its own stationery? If posted by TWA, why is the Philatelist address stamp on the reverse and how did it and the Austrian stamp get there? How did the card get to the Olympic Valley post office? Did Warner receive it? -- there are no mis-sent or forwarding marks if it first went to the Olympic Valley post office.

And a final question -- If Frank Warner received this card, why did he not just throw it in the waste basket. It has no message and doesn't appear to have philatelic value. Is there something about it that merited keeping?

Lots of questions. Does anyone have any answers? I could use some to write up this cover. Thanks.

Don

The wavy line cancel on the costume stamp, is an Austrian Cancel, used to cancel stamps, that have been missed by the meter, or by hand cancelling.

Unable to supply a link, sorry.
I think it was Austrian Postmarks or similar about 5 years ago.

Found on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Postal-His...273437069368

Image here.



Appears to be a special flight and markings from Austria, for the Olympics.

As this item has the same small handstamp from the Philatelist on the reverse (not shown) , perhaps this was sent to their subscription list as a promotional item.

Here's an earlier discussion on Austrian dumb cancels with a link to an article on the subject:

https://goscf.com/t/58693

Thanks,mml1942:

Yes, sounds logical, but who did the sending, TWA or the Philatelist? Was this a collaborative mailing by TWA and the Philatelist? Any speculation on how it got to the Squaw Valley post office?

Is this item really worth $17? I doubt it.

Don

Thank you Rod222 and nigelc for your replies: They solve the cancel on the Austrian stamp portion of the puzzle.

It does look like it may have been a promotional item mailed to the Philatelist subscription list, but at question yet is -- who posted it TWA or the Philatelist, how did it get to the Squaw Valley post office, and did Frank Warner ever receive it?

Thanks, again, to those who respond.

Don

Well, I've been thinking about this and I am beginning to get the picture. This is a special flight card put on a TWA flight from Vienna to Squaw Valley, California. The mail on this flight got a receiving cancel at the Olympic Valley post office, was put on another flight to NYC and delivered as addressed. That would explain the Olympic Valley postmark, and Warner probably did receive the card.

Who knows why he did not just trash to card. But remaining is the question, what purpose did the canceled Austrian stamp on the reverse serve?

Don

.
Howzabout we check the fine print? (at the top of the card)


I'm gonna jump out on a limb, and guess that:

- TWA paid for the semi-postal cards, and

- the Philatelist made some kind of deal to supply their mailing list and/or buy the cards in bulk, and

- the California backstamp was a courtesy handback, and

- I've got no idea what the 'extra' Austrian stamp is doing on the otherwise blank reverse, and

- no one mailed the card to Mr Warner expecting him to fly that route.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

No idea. Looks lonely.
The 60 Groschen costume, is of the Lavant Valley, Carinthia, not sure if there is any relevance to Olympic Valley Calif.

Or, perhaps there was a bulk posting impost, that required an occasional stamp.

I bet part of the answer is in the rates. I bet 1sh wasn't enough to make it to the U.S. thus the additional stamp was added to the back. You see this on the backs of addressed and mailed East European FDCs all the time.

My guess is the printed card is most likely a product of Philatelist. The handstamp cachet is something done by the Austrian PO; these are often seen alone on otherwise blank special covers like this. And I doubt that TWA had a pile of Olympic stamps from 1948 handy just for this situation.

The 60g stamp on the back is part of the airmail card rate and is put there to not the spoil the "effect" of the Olympic flame stamp on the face.

Frank Warner may have ordered more than this one to sell. Some people do collect these things. As with any flown cover, it requires an address and this was just returned through the mails to him. There are no transit markings as these were not normally struck on mail during this period in the US. The Olympic Valley receiver was used for this as is normal for speciaal flight covers. Take a look at any US or foreign flight covers from jut about any time and you will see how they were similarly handled.

Thank you all for the replies. Good information! I appreciate it.

Don

I like that.

An older (1948)version:
https://oldthing.de/1948-Olympische...V-0033398162

This cover has Added stamps.

https://www.marktplatz-philatelie.c...sa-wien-1960

Here is some additional information about the pictorial
cancellations on these Post Cards.
They are listed in the ANK Österreich Spezialkatalog
as OlympiaSonderflüge = Special Olympic Flights for
both 1960 Winter Olympics and the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics.

Since the 1964 Winter Olympics were scheduled for Innsbruck
Austria these Post Cards with pictorial cancels would have
been of interest to Austrian collectors.

Nice find for 1$........!