Once the plane landed at the designated intermediate city, the local post office unloaded the mailbag.
Certain geographic bottlenecks generated a massive volume of jusqu'à mail. Understanding these hubs is critical for any collector analyzing a cover.
McQueen approached the subject with the meticulous eye of a postal historian. He gathered data from hundreds of auction catalogues, private collections, and institutional archives to create a rigorous framework. Taxonomy of Markings Jusqu-a Airmail Markings- A Study Ian McQueen
Without Ian McQueen’s systematic study, these covers would be mere curiosities—interesting but indecipherable. With his study in hand, the collector becomes a detective, tracing a letter’s path from a Parisian boulevard to an African lagoon, then onward by ship to a Brazilian port.
By studying the Jusqu’à location alongside the arrival backstamps, a collector can reconstruct the exact plane, train, or ship routes a letter took across continents. Conclusion Once the plane landed at the designated intermediate
The world of philately, or stamp collecting, is a fascinating one, with a rich history and a vast array of unique and intriguing specimens to study and collect. One area of particular interest to collectors and researchers is the study of airmail markings, which provide a window into the development of air transportation and communication systems around the world. In this article, we will explore the work of Ian McQueen, a renowned philatelist and expert in the field of airmail markings, with a particular focus on his research into Jusqu'a Airmail Markings.
, this book is indispensable. While it is a technical "study" rather than a narrative history, McQueen’s clear organization makes it accessible for anyone trying to understand the journey of a specific airmail cover. It remains the "gold standard" for this niche, often cited in auction catalogs and expertizing certificates. McQueen approached the subject with the meticulous eye
In other cases, air transport simply wasn’t available for the final leg of the journey. The marking acted as an operational directive for sorting hubs.
The study also covers the simple that were often stamped across airmail etiquettes to indicate that the letter would not be carried further by air because of the rate paid. For example, on a 1932 cover from Bridge River, British Columbia, to London, the six‑cent rate paid only for air transport within Canada. When the cover arrived in England, purple bars were struck through the airmail indicators, and the letter then crossed the Atlantic by ship. McQueen’s book documents this and countless similar examples, drawn from many countries.
Collectors categorize these markings based on how they were applied to the cover: