Airmail stamp
Encyclopedia
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
intended to pay either an airmail
Airmail
Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
fee that is charged in addition to the surface rate, or the full airmail rate, for a piece of mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
to be transported by air.
Airmail stamps should not be confused with airmail etiquette
Airmail etiquette
An airmail etiquette, often shortened to just etiquette, is a label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail. The term is from French étiquette "label, sticker" , from which also English etiquette "rules of behavior".- Use :Because the etiquettes are just instructions to postal...
s, which are affixed to mail as an instruction to the postal authority that the mail should be transmitted by air.
History
With aviation developments, several countries started to experiment with flights, and postal authorities considered flying the mails. Initially flights were unofficial, but some flights such as the 1877 Buffalo balloon flight, carried mail, to which stamp-like labels were affixed. At the beginning airmail letters cost more than surface mail.Both airmail stamps and stamps surcharged for airmail were issued, though some countries restricted the use of airmail stamps only to letters sent by airmail, while others allowed them to be used for other mail services.
Several of the early airmail stamps were produced by surcharging other stamps with overprints; at first in 1917, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
used express stamps; regular stamps were used by Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1918, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
used official stamps
Official mail
Official mail is mail sent from, or by an authorised department of government, governmental agency or international organization and normally has some indication that it is official; a certifying cachet, return address or other means of identity, indicating its user...
in 1920. Some other examples are the use of fiscal stamps
Revenue stamp
A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...
, telegraph stamps, postage due stamps
Postage due
Postage due is the term used for mail sent with insufficient postage. A postage due stamp is a stamp added to an underpaid piece of mail to indicate the extra postage due.- Background :...
, and parcel stamps
Parcel stamp
In philately a Parcel Stamp is a stamp specifically issued to pay the fee for the transport of a parcel through the postal system and usually marked as such. It is to be distinguished from a postage stamp used to pay the cost of posting a parcel, although there may no practical distinction as far...
by other countries. Airmail stamps have been issued for extra services, such as registered airmail, express airmail, airmail fieldpost
Field post office
A Field Post Office is a post office set up during time of war or when a military unit is on manoeuvres. It is set up 'in the field', hence the name, however, FPOs may be on land or at sea. Their use pre-dates the introduction of postage stamps....
, and even with welfare surcharges.
A new branch of collecting
In the 1920s and 1930s, when many countries issued airmail stamps to publicise their new airmail routes, a new branch of stamp collectingStamp collecting
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is one of the world's most popular hobbies, with the number of collectors in the United States alone estimated to be over 20 million.- Collecting :...
started. This led to an expansion that includes the collection of covers
Cover (philately)
In philately, the term cover pertains to the outside of an envelope or package with an address, typically with postage stamps that have been cancelled and is a term generally used among stamp and postal history collectors. The term does not include the contents of the letter or package, although...
, and other postal items carried by aircraft. Airmail items from the early days are expensive due to the popularity of this collecting area. Specialised catalogues and albums
Stamp album
A stamp album is a book, often loose-leafed , in which a collection of postage stamps may be stored and displayed.- Overview :...
are produced for collectors of airmail stamps and other aerophilatelic
Aerophilately
Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and documented by specialists.- Scope :The scope of...
items. Many airmail stamps feature aviation themes that are an area of topical stamp collecting
Topical stamp collecting
Topical or thematic stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps relating to a particular subject or concept. Topics can be almost anything, from stamps on stamps, birds on stamps, to famous physicians, to the history of England.- Background :...
.
Official airmail stamps
Poste Italiane
Poste italiane S.p.A. is the government-owned postal service of Italy, headquartered in Rome.Besides providing core postal services, Poste Italiane Group offers integrated products, as well as communication, logistics and financial services in Italy....
overprint
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
ed their existing special delivery
Special delivery (postal service)
Special Delivery is a postal service for urgent postal packets. Its meaning varies among postal services and is different and separate from Express mail delivery service offered by many postal administrations...
stamps. The following year, the United States Post Office Department
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
issued the first airmail stamp specifically issued for the purpose; while it does not have "airmail" or "air post" printed on it, it illustrates a Curtiss JN-4
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S...
airplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
. One pane of 100 stamps were found to have an invert error
Invert error
In philately, an invert error occurs when part of a postage stamp is printed upside-down. Inverts are perhaps the most spectacular of a postage stamp errors, not only because of the striking visual appearance, but because they are almost always quite rare, and highly valued by stamp...
, known as the Inverted Jenny
Inverted Jenny
The Inverted Jenny is a United States postage stamp first issued on May 10, 1918 in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design was accidentally printed upside-down; it is probably the most famous error in American philately...
, because the airplane image in the centre is inverted relative to the outer frame. The error is one of the most well known airmail stamps.
Semi-official airmail stamps
Semi-official airmail stamps are not issued by the postal authority but have official sanction and are sometimes used for local postLocal post
A local post is a mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Historically, some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local posts have been for-profit companies...
s, they are more accurately referred to a labels rather than stamps. The privately produced 5¢ Buffalo balloon stamps were used on June 18, 1877, for a balloon flight
Balloon mail
Balloon mail refers to the transport of mail carrying the name of the sender by means of an unguided hydrogen or helium filled balloon. Since the balloon is not controllable, the delivery of a balloon mail is left to good fortune; often the balloon and postcard are lost...
from Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to Gallatin
Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...
, Tennessee.
See also
- AerophilatelyAerophilatelyAerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail service have been extensively studied and documented by specialists.- Scope :The scope of...
- Airmail stamps of DenmarkAirmail stamps of DenmarkDenmark issued ten definitive airmail stamps between 1925 and 1934 in two distinct series. The 1st series, commonly called The Plow and Airplane was first issued in June 1925. These stamps were designed by Danish artist Axel Peder Jensen . The 2nd series was issued on June 9, 1934 and depicted an...
- Art Deco stampsArt Deco stampsArt deco stamps are postage stamps designed in the Art Deco style which was a popular international design style in the 1920s through the 1930s. The style is marked by the use of "geometric motifs, curvilinear forms, sharply defined outlines, often bold colors", and a fascination with machinery...
- List of United States airmail stamps
External links
- Buffalo balloon stamps & cover
- Collecting airmail stamps American Air Mail SocietyAmerican Air Mail SocietyThe American Air Mail Society is a U.S. nonprofit organization devoted to the collecting and study of airmails and aerophilately.-History:...
- U.S. Air Mail Stamps American Air Mail SocietyAmerican Air Mail SocietyThe American Air Mail Society is a U.S. nonprofit organization devoted to the collecting and study of airmails and aerophilately.-History:...