Swiss Airmail to the U.S.: a Rate Study
A Philatelic Exhibit by George Struble
An Introduction
This
exhibit shows the various airmail rates from Switzerland to the U.S. This is a rich history, with many
nuances. There are three main periods:
·
1924
to 1939: Airmail could not be flown across the Atlantic, but Swiss could pay
for airmail within the U.S. with
Swiss postage. This is not well known,
and examples are hard to find.
Especially in 1924-1926 when the Swiss rates replicated the U.S. rate
structure by zones. I would love to show an example of each zone
in each of the six rate periods in those three years; I believe I am fortunate
to have one cover!
·
1939
to 1981: Airmail was carried across the Atlantic. Many things happened during World War II as
routes changed by necessity; censorship is worthy of a study in itself. This exhibit does not dwell on censorship or
routing changes; its focus is on postage rates.
During most of this period -- like the period 1924 to 1939, the airmail postge for a letter consisted of a base (surface) rate plus
an airmail surcharge. But in 1971 the
structure changed to unified comprehensive rates: an airmail postage rate for
the letter -- like the structure the U.S. and many other countries had always
used.
·
1981
to the present: separate rates for airmail were abolished, and presumably all
mail went by air.
There were other major changes. In 1991 Switzerland introduced Priority
("A") and Economy ("B") levels of service. And in 1996 Swiss Post differentiated rates
by the dimensions of the item: higher
rates for larger as well as for heavier items.
Those
form the three major sections of the exhibit.
There are two smaller sections:
·
Catapult
and Zeppelin flights
·
Mail
to Hawaii, which until 1977 had rates from Switzerland different from those to
the continental U.S. I try to tell the
story, but can’t begin to illustrate all the rates; Swiss mail to Hawaii is
scarce!
I try
to show all airmail rates, with examples of each. I explain the franking of each cover,
including the surface rates and the rates for auxiliary services: registration,
express, avis de reception, “eigenhändig”, export
declared, as well as post card and printed mater rates. I do not
try to show examples of each weight step in each period; your eyes would glaze
over!
I do show anomalies – covers with U.S.
postage, covers that looked like airmail but weren’t, but some were flown
anyway, etc. And other things around the
fringes of the rules; we can often learn a great deal from the exceptional
cases! Some covers are frustrating
because no markings or arrival postmarks show us how a cover was treated.
I want
to acknowledge my gratitude to
Steve Weston, who acquired the
nucleus of this exhibit and sold it to me
Mike Peter, who furnished many of the
more recent covers
Fritz Graf, whose knowledge of Swiss
postage rates was invaluable to me!
May
30, 2020