Arctic Air Mercy Flight Cinderellas

These stamps have been associated for many years with the diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska.

Diphtheria serum was urgently needed, but since Nome was located 224 kilometres from the Arctic Circle, it was doubtful whether an airplane would make the trip in the harsh Alaskan winter.

Bush flying in Alaska was still in its infancy in 1925, and it was limited to only summer months as the planes were open and unreliable in cold weather.

A relay of dog teams was finally decided to take the serum from Nenana to Nome, a distance of about a thousand kilometres. The serum arrived in Nome on Feb 2.

Even if planes had been capable of making such a flight, it’s hard to imagine what role stamps could have had in the venture, and there appears to be no evidence to support the notion that these were used as charity labels.

Moreover, the similarity of the vignette at the centre of the cinderella to the design of stamps that Norway issued to fund a North Pole flight by Roald Amundsen is striking.

The fact that the Norwegian stamps (SG 167-173, Scott 104-110, Michel 109-115), the same year as the serum emergency, but almost two months after it passed, is a coincidence too remarkable to believe.

If one were to speculate, and apparently in this case, one does, then it is possible that a dealer or collector in or shortly after 1925 was aware of the publicised Alaskan emergency and the design of the Norwegian stamp. Having access to or owning modest printing facilities, he was able to produce these bicoloured labels in an amazing array of colours and papers, and in a popular philatelic format (the triangle), seeking to maximise sales of what is, after all, a single design. It is, nevertheless, quite an interesting one.