SCADTA Mail From and To Switzerland
A Philatelic Exhibit by George Struble -- as of May 2021
Introduction
The SCADTA Airline – Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aereos – was among the first in the western hemisphere. More remarkable is that it made a business success without government subsidy or even a government contract to carry mail. Lack of a government mail contract meant that payment for postage could not be with any government’s stamps; SCADTA was outside the umbrella of the UPU. SCADTA therefore issued its own stamps.
SCADTA’s first stamps were issued in 1920 and 1921. They were used on mail from Colombia; mailers outside Colombia were not aware they could send mail to be flown by SCADTA. These stamps are not rare, but not many survive on cover. This exhibit includes a stunning cover using these stamps mailed to Switzerland.
The next SCADTA’s stamps – in 1921 – were overprinted in 1923 for use from various countries, including S for Switzerland. In 1929 SCADTA issued “Gold Dollar” stamps valid from all countries. In 1932 SCADTA finally received a government contract, so SCADTA postage could be paid by stamps of the country of the sender.
SCADTA is an important subject because of the uniqueness of its role as a non-government stamp issuer whose stamps were widely used in correspondence from and to many countries. The Swiss portion of that corpus is especially interesting because of the commercial traffic between Switzerland and Colombia and because the Swiss consul in Colombia and the Colombian consul in Switzerland were brothers!
My personal study of SCADTA has been fascinating. I have been grateful for the studies done by the late Ian Gilchrist, and I have used other resources, especially the book by Quail.
This exhibit shows the various stamps for use from and to Switzerland, and
shows covers between Switzerland and Colombia. Usage from Switzerland is
divided into four periods:
Use of
SCADTA stamps with hand-overprinted “S”
Use of
SCADTA stamps with machine-overprinted “S”
Use of “Gold
Dollar” stamps
Use of Swiss
stamps
Before S-overprinted stamps were available in Switzerland, Philippi & Hermann used A-overprinted (for Germany) stamps on a few pieces; five examples are known, and two are shown here.
It is estimated that only 42 pieces of mail using the hand-overprinted “S” still exist; four are shown here, including the only recorded postcard with correct use of the 15-centavo stamp.
I show Zeppelin mail from Switzerland using SCADTA stamps; including two of the four known postcards sent from Switzerland to Colombia using machine-overprinted S stamps. The exhibit includes one of the five covers mailed from Liechtenstein to Colombia on November 29, 1927, carrying Liechtenstein "Caritas" stamps. Examples of commercial mail using one- and two-peso stamps are included – and philatelic mail using 3- and 5-pesos stamps. One cover includes a SCADTA stamp overprinted "P" (for Panama) on a cover mailed from Switzerland (affixed in Panama as the letter was forwarded to Colombia) -- the only recorded such cover. Five covers from Liechtenstein were carried on different Zeppelin flights.
Covers illustrate the use of both the "two-cover" system and the "one-cover" system.
It is estimated that about 50 covers using “Gold-Dollar” stamps from Switzerland still exist; several are included here, including a large commercial cover using 1- and 2-peso stamps.
The Swiss covers after 1932 include the only recorded cover flown by North Atlantic catapult and by SCADTA, and a cover from the League of Nations to its commission in Leticia, Colombia.
Mail from Colombia to Switzerland includes several periods in which different stamps are used: the 1921, 1923 and the 1929 issues are represented, as well as the 1929 SCADTA stamps overprinted "Correo Aereo" in 1932 after SCADTA was awarded a government contract. One interesting cover was mailed from Brazil on a Zeppelin flight, then reused from Colombia to Switzerland.
See the Title page for an outline of the sections of the exhibit.
References:
1. P.G. Quail, Selected Notes on Colombian Airmails, 1999
[copies at Western Philatelic Library and Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library]
2. Schweizerisches Luftpost Handbuch, 2013 or
2018 edition [SCADTA coverage is considerably expanded from earlier editions]