Show Me Your Airmail Covers, Envelope Designs

A smaller checkerboard pattern, half blue and half red.

This checkerboard with small staggered or scattered red and blue squares is a variation of the A.C. Roesseler design posted above by John Becker. The design continues on the reverse and has a copyright notice by A.C. Roesseler.

Another variation on the checkerboard borders. Unfortunately, there is a silver foil label on this cover that does not scan well.

Moving from the "checkerboards" to what I call the "crossroads" or "intersections" category. These emulate the international designation for registered mail. The variations generally occur in the width of the lines and placement of the intersection on the cover.

A thinner line crossroads variety.

Crossroads with double thin lines.

A partial crossroads designed, perhaps, to allow more space for cachets or return addresses.

Another two to add to the theme

A 'dead end" crossroads freeing up more space on the left side for cachet or return address.

A dead end crossroads formed with small red and blue squares.

The last of my crossroads,this one multiple crossroads.

This cover can be categorized as flags or stars. I put it in flags and it is my only flags border that is of U.S. origin.

DonSellos, that is a fantastic cover (771). So many auxiliary markings on it. Love it!

Thanks, Stampman. One other thing I like about that cover is the bullseye slogan cancel on the stamp.

Don

Moving on to my next category, Lines and Bars, I will post only a selected few. Many in this category have already been shown by others and I don't wish to duplicate what others have posted. The below NAMW cover from Qunicy, MA, I am certain, is new to this category because on close examination when mounting the cover I discovered the airmail border and "via air mail" box above the address are hand drawn. I measured the distances from the enlarged portions of the lines in the center of the border to the corners of the smaller lines and they are exactly the same for all four positions. Surely whoever drew this border was a skilled draftsman or calligrapher. Unfortunately, someone at sometime inked out the name of the addressee.

A couple more examples of Lines and Bars varieties. Both the horizontal red & blue bars and the diagonal red & blue bars are common designs seen from the 1920s forward. The two designs together crossing one another is seen less frequently. The cachet on the Century of Progress cover is copyrighted by Lytle Adams, a dentist who successfully developed and sold the concept of inflight pick-up and dispatch of airmail.

The second cover with red & blue bars being pulled across the bottom of the envelope by an airplane is a common design the variations of which include the width of the bars, the type of airplane, and the direction its flying. This type is frequently seen on covers from Latin America.