Pocket change and airmail in the Pacific

[villa66]

In the days before computers, before the Internet and E-mail, and before fax machines, one of the quickest ways for ordinary people to send written words across far distances--relatively cheaply anyway--was Air Mail…Par Avion…Posta Aerea…Mit Luftpost.

It’s amazing—to me, anyway—how quickly the memory of those special envelopes and special labels, the special air mail postage stamps and—perhaps most of all, the special lightweight onionskin paper—well, it’s amazing how quickly the memory of all that is disappearing.

And the memory of Air Mail as something glamorous---and important—is fast disappearing too, as is the glamour and the importance of the everyday coin-transactions that were involved in sending our written words far away, fast.

Air Mail. Air Mail in the Pacific. The beginning of American Air Mail in the Pacific. One good starting-point is with this particular handful of pocket change:

[villa66]

Ten cents American, the price of the particular revenue—not postage—stamp reproduced below. Series 1898 “Documentary” stamps, required for many kinds of documents—deeds, bank checks, etc., etc. There were many values in the series, and neither the 1898 date nor the battleship design were coincidence. In the days before the Supreme Court had sanctioned the income tax, government had to raise money through a variety of other means. To pay for the Spanish-American War of 1898, countless small coin-transactions like this one occurred across the country, funneling American coins—many collected through the purchase of documentary revenue stamps—into the effort to pay off the war debt.

[villa66]

One of the prizes of the Spanish-American War (or burdens, depending upon who was doing the talking), was the Philippines. Below, from the first year of the new American coinage for the Philippines, a 1903 20-centavo piece worth 10 cents in American currency. (The 1903 coinage was too ambitious; the 1903-06 20-centavo of .900 fine silver and 5.38 gram weight soon yielded to the 1907-45 20-centavo of .750 fine silver and 4.00 gram weight). The obverse allegory—or so I have read—is intended to represent the work done by the Americans on behalf of the Philippines (with the other design of the series, the man seated at the anvil, depicting the efforts of the Filipinos on their own behalf):

[villa66]

By November 1935, the Philippines were a self-governing Commonwealth, and full Philippine independence had been enacted into law and set for a decade hence, on 4 July 1946. It might be fairly said, however, that in the popular mind events were moving perhaps faster than the technicalities of law. Note how the Philippines are styled as a “Republic” in the newsreel footage below, recording the first scheduled Air Mail service from the U.S. to the Philippines, 22-29 November 1935:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8SkeE1h_-A

[villa66]

It may be difficult to understand what a milestone the moment was—the first scheduled Air Mail (soon also to be passenger service) across the wide Pacific from San Francisco to Manila, with scheduled intermediate stops at Hawaii and Guam. This new service—which immediately made the world much smaller (6.5 days by airplane from the U.S. to the Philippines, with stopovers, versus 21 days by fast steamer)—was flown by the airline Pan-Am using three large seaplanes named China Clipper, Hawaii Clipper, and Philippine Clipper. It was China Clipper that flew the first flight, and it was “China Clipper” that became the generic term for the flying boats on this route—a very appropriate thing, as the name was an allusion to the fast sailing ships of the mid-1800s known as “China clippers.” (Back then, instead of mail the cargo was tea and opium.

The much bigger Boeing 314 would later fly this route, but the three original Clippers were Baltimore-made Martin M-130’s. It was an M-130 pictured on the Air Mail postage stamp below, produced especially for the newly scheduled service. I call your attention to the Philippine coat-of-arms at upper right, the date of November 1935, and the denomination—25-cents, one quarter-dollar.

[villa66]

One of these 25-cent Air Mails would fly a ½-ounce letter from the U.S. to the American Territory of Hawaii. Here is a coin that would have done the job, a 1935 quarter-dollar. Funny thing is, this 1935 25-cent piece had a spending power then which is roughly equivalent to $3.50 in today’s currency—but not where the U.S. Mail is concerned. To fly a 1-ounce letter from the U.S. mainland to the American state of Hawaii in 2013 costs $0.46, whereas in 1935 it would have cost $0.50!

But again, below is an example of the 25 cents in coin that an American family would have had to find in a purse or a pocket to mail a letter by air to their son, brother, husband or father serving aboard or alongside one of the American ships at Pearl Harbor in 1935:

[villa66]

To fly a letter via China Clipper to Guam in 1935 required two of the new stamps costing $0.50:

[villa66]

Or in coin from the U.S. by air to friend, family, business or government office in Guam:

[villa66]

And to make it to the farthest destination (of the 1935 air route), via China Clipper to the Philippines, it required three of the new stamps costing $0.75

[villa66]

Or in coin from the U.S. by air to friend, family, business or government office in the Philippines:

[villa66]

Note that all three of the quarter types illustrated above were in common circulation in 1935. Note also what would have been obvious to an observer of the coinage if—when trying to pay for his or her air mail letter to the Philippines—that customer at an American post office had pulled the three coins below out of his or her pocket or purse. The two Standing Liberty coins, despite being of not dissimilar grades, have very different dates—one recessed (1927d) and the other (1923) unrecessed—with the slightly older coin from 1923 being already in danger of losing its date altogether:

[villa66]

But of course the coin combinations that could have been used are…numerous, to say the least. Another possible combo for the three stamps needed for the trip to the Philippines, this one being particularly efficient:

[villa66]

The Pacific Air Mail flown by the China Clippers would be a casualty of the coming war, of course. And by 1945 all three of the M-130 flying boats would be victims of accident. The Philippines would get their independence, as promised, on 4 July 1946. The large number of new long concrete runways, and more and much better landplanes put an end to the need for large seaplanes (along with the romance that seemed to accompany them). Scheduled (civilian) Air Mail in the Pacific was reestablished, expanded exponentially, and--as propellers gave way to jets--moved still faster. (And maybe, early in the jet age anyway, with some of the old romance of the thirties.)

But all that was a long time ago. The world continues to shrink, digitally. and we continue to forget, humanly.

v.

[sigistenz]

Welcome back, friend. I remember well the airmail days - today's snail mail. To save on postage I always used AEROGRAMS.
Will comment to all this tomorrow when I'll have more time. Glad to see you back here.
Sigi

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[villa66]

Thanks, Sigi, for the welcome back. And I hope you will talk more on this or related stuff if it gets handy.

v.