Show Me Your Airmail Covers, Envelope Designs

The orange and black owls border and the orange "Via Air Mail" suggest a Halloween origin for this envelope. The addressee may have designed this one. He has an entry in The Blue Book of Philately indicating that he was an avid philatelist specializing in airmail covers.

An airmail border of fleur de lis on a 1932 cover posted at Washington, D.C.

The silhouettes facing each other resemble Martha (left) and George (right) Washington. I suspect that this envelope may have been printed for use with the 1932 set commemorating the 200th anniversary of Geo. Washington's birth. While the border symbols are not in traditional airmail colors and the words "Air Mail" are missing, the envelope obviously also served for airmail purposes when appropriately franked. I have included it in my airmail borders collection.

A tropical cover from Hawaii.

Small orange and green lamps surrounded by scroll work constitute the border on this envelope. The style and font of the "Via Air Mail" is the same as that on the orange and black owl cover posted on 9/20 above suggesting that the same person designed both.

Not sure how to categorize this design other than fine red lines with wedges in the corners.

A NAMW cover with ribbon-like airmail border. Unfortunately, a previous owner tried to remove the mailing address.

One of my favorites is this unique airmail border with sled dogs included in the design. The airmail designation is continued on the reverse by a blue airplane trailing red and blue contrails with an admonishment to speed mail delivery by using airmail service.

Another favorite today, Clipper covers with variant airmail borders of U.S. Navy ships. I have tried without much success to find our who designed and produced these attractive covers. As the last cover, an unused example, indicates that variety was sold by a "news" company in San Pedro, California, the home port for many Navy ships at that time. It is, however, a slightly different design than the first two shown. Since these covers carry a premium, I am reluctant to remove the stamps to see if the others have a different source.

Another puzzle is that I usually see these covers posted aboard capital ships, i.e. battleships or cruisers. My only exception is the cover posted in Honolulu and there is an accompanying letter with it indicating the writer was stationed aboard USS Nashville, a cruiser.

Another puzzle is I have not seen examples of this cover posted later than 1940.

If anyone has any information about the origin of these covers, I would appreciate seeing it.

Don

The basic design posted aboard USS West Virginia


The same design posted in Honolulu


A variation on the border with red & blue rectangles above & below the ships and scroll work in the corners, posted aboard USS Tennessee.. The rectangles continue on the reverse.


An unused example of the rectangles and scroll work border with the distributor's address in the upper right corner.

Two more "Clipper" covers with two different airmail borders and two different cachets. The cover posted aboard USS Houston, a cruiser, has a cachet portraying a Martin 130 flying over a Cuban scene instead of an Hawaiian one.

The bottom cover, unused, shows a different distributor than those with the U.S. Navy ships border. I have not be able to find an history of NANCO, Inc. If anyone is familiar with NANCO, please post any info available.

Neither border design continues on the reverse of these covers.

A patriotic cover and unofficial dedication of the opening of Enid Army Flying School, Enid, Oklahoma, now called Vance Air Force Base. It is still a training command. I collected this cover for its red, white, & blue rope-like airmail bottom border separated by "air mail" wings.

A 1946 first-flight cover, NYC to Vienna, with an ornate art deco style airmail border. On the reverse is a hand stamp of the King's Stamp Club in Syracuse, N.Y., and on the front lower left and right is "Kings stamper" and Greene. Perhaps, someone named Greene, a member of King's Stamp Club designed this border.

A 1958 non-philatelic cover with a red, white, & blue bunting style airmail border. It is also unusual for its larger size (180mm x 114mm)).
The design continues on the reverse.

A 1961 philatelic cover commemorating the first flight of General Dynamics' Convair 990. The cover uses two extra wide red & blue bars on the left edge for the airmail border.

Hey Don, that Halloween Airmail Border is fantastic!