Condor/Brazil Stationary

Introduction

Sometime, shortly before the 1930 Pan Am Zeppelin flight, Condor had began producing its own stationary to be used for their service. This stationary consisted of distinctive envelopes and postcards, as well as letter sheets to be used their envelopes. Even long after 1930, these stationary items saw several remodelings, up to the time, when, due to political complications, Condor had to cease its services in Brazil. This article will demonstrate this evolution and accent those that were used on the 1930 flight.

The 1930 Zeppelin Flight

Two basic versions of Condor envelopes were available and used on this flight. It earliest version is represented in Figure 1.

Fig. 1: Cover and enlarged detail of the initial Condor envelope style. No details by the wing feathers nor an detailed collar on the bird's neck.

The second version, very similar to the initial, but now the bird gains a distinctive white collar, as can be seen in Figure 2.

Fig. 2: White collar detail on envelope, card and letter stationary. Note the enlarged trilingual footnote stating that the envelope plus three sheets of this stationary add up to 10 grams.

Afterwards

The previous examples are the only ones I've seen on the 1930 Zeppelin Pan Am to date, any of the following stationary came chronologically later and if a 1930 Zeppelin Pan Am cover ever showed up using one of the following examples, the suspicion would be great that it is a forgery. The next example in the Condor stationary evolution chain is displayed in Figure 3.

Fig. 3: More details appear on the Condor's wings.

The next stage is demonstrated in Figure 4.

Fig. 4: Reduced, more primitive detailed, Condor appears. The stationary seems to be “cheaper”.

Up to now, the basic style and color had remained the same. The next evolutionary step shows a marked departure form the previous examples. The color changes to blue (Lufthansa?) and the Condor gets a dramatic redo as seen in Figure 5.

Fig. 5: A big remodeling, new color, the bird motive and even a radical departure in the font used for the bottom.

Finally, just shortly before the end, the last stage appears, and the condor has flown the coop, Figure 6, and Lufthansa enters the picture more officially.

Fig.6: Plain border envelope

With the advent of WWII, it all ends.