SWITZERLAND 1933 2Fr METER LABEL & MIXED FRANKING AIRMAIL COVER TO CALCUTTA INDIA
1933 (Aug. 5), commercial heavy-weight airmail cover from Winterthur via Brindisi to Calcutta, British India. The brown ribbed envelope features a large typed address label for Messrs. Sulzer Brothers Engineering Office, Sassoon House, 4 Lyons Range, Calcutta (Brit. India). It is franked with an automated 2Fr red Francotyp meter label inscribed "WINTERTHUR 1 / GEBRÜDER SULZER A.-G." alongside a 40c green and yellow Airmail definitive (winged letter over Alps) and a lower-left 20c green Airmail definitive (biplane over mountains). The traditional stamps are cleanly tied by black circular date stamps inscribed "WINTERTHUR 1 / BRIEFVERSAND" ['-5.VIII.33.-12']. The face carries a light blue "Mit Luftpost / Par avion / Per aeroplano" etiquette and specific manuscript routing directives reading "Via Brindisi" and "Mit Luftpost: Brindisi - Calcutta". The reverse exhibits an oval corporate security handstamp reading "SULZER" directly underneath a sharp black double-circle destination arrival postmark inscribed "CALCUTTA G.P.O. / REG." dated August 14, 1933 ['16- Hrs / 14 AUG / 1933']. The cover remains fully intact and is in stable commercial condition.
This international document maps a specialized interwar commercial air route combining corporate automated franking with traditional aviation definitives. Dispatched from the headquarters of the engineering giant Gebrüder Sulzer in Winterthur, the substantial 2.60Fr combined tariff paid for heavy-packet carriage across multiple transit zones. The transit indicators trace a coordinated rail-to-air itinerary: routed via train down the Italian peninsula to the port of Brindisi, the mail bag boarded an Imperial Airways flight crossing the Mediterranean and Middle East pipelines to India. The flawless tracking timeline, culminating at the Calcutta General Post Office Registry within nine days of European dispatch, offers a premier diagnostic specimen of interwar industrial airmail logistics.
Please examine lot scan carefully and please send any questions at least 48 hours before the auction closes. Please note that cover condition usually includes normal wear and tear to cover edges, opening tears and some creases and wrinkles. Only exceptional or extreme condition issues will be mentioned.
Legend:
PS - Postal Stationery
FL - Folded Letter
SFL - Stampless Folded Letter
RPO - Railway Post Office
CDS - Circular Date Stamp
DPO - Dead Post Office
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