How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

No place, 1937. Unused red and blue cacheted cover, signed by Amelia Earhart in top left. 3 5/8 x 6 5/8 in. (92 x 168 mm). Lot includes a photograph of Earhart.

A rare cover signed by Amelia Earhart, created for her ill-fated 1937 round-the-world flight.

To raise money for her flight, Earhart's husband, George Putnam, arranged with Gimbel Brothers department store in New York to create these special blue and red cacheted covers featuring a portrait of the aviatrix. Around 10,000 were apparently created, several of which were prepaid and addressed, and were to be carried in the nose compartment of her Lockheed Electra. These were signed by Earhart, who then intended to add postage stamps as the flight progressed, and were then to be delivered to collectors following the completion of her journey.

Earhart's first attempt at an around the world flight began in Hawaii in March 1937, but "during the takeoff attempt in Honolulu, the plane went into a loop (type of fishtail), its landing gear gave way and it crashed. When the plane was sent back to Burbank for repairs, the mail was placed in the custody of the Honolulu postmaster." (Bowman, Amelia Earhart Philately, p. 4) The present cover, which was flown to Hawaii in preparation for the first attempt, and was signed but never used or addressed, is one of only a few that are known to survive. For her second attempt, newer covers were created, which took off from Miami on June 1. On that flight she carried approximately 7,500 covers, which then disappeared along with Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Rare. According to RBH, this is only the fourth example of this signed cover to come to auction.