Vintage Swissair hankies - great graphics

Midge

Midge

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My best friend in Vienna gives me the most incredible vintage presents some time. This is the latest, which I got when visiting her over new year's - 3 vintage Swissair hankies.
The story behind them was that a good friend of hers bought some vintage jewelery online, and it came wrapped in these. Since they were moving abroad at the end of the year, they had to empty their apartment. She came across these again and wanted to throw them away, but my friend saw the logo and thought I might appreciate them. She likes the prints and knew I'd like them too, but I work in the travel industry and am a bit of an aircraft/airline nerd (being the daughter of an aircraft fan and having who work friends in the airline industry helps too of course!).

swissair3.jpg

South American flavour...

swissair1.jpg

Maybe Spanish?

swissair2.jpg

English, of course!

This actually reminded me of a discussion we had here some time ago about another Swissair hankie:
http://forums.vintagefashionguild.o...nature-or-know-this-series.34740/#post-334583

Sadly, these here have no artist's signatures. But they are to me still in keeping with the kind of graphics that Swissair also used in advertisements in the time from the 50s to 70s. I am guessing that these hankies are from that time too.

I don't know what to do with them, for the moment I just keep them because I like them. Framing them and hanging them on a wall might be an idea, but my walls are full already. Swissair memorabilia is still well-sought after here in Switzerland, but I guess that focuses more on the posters, aircraft models, trolleys, the stylish ashtrays with the "flying" aircraft and these kinds of things that I usually see being sold. I never see any of these hankies on offer - not even at the airport flea market, which usually is big on Swissair memorabilia.

Karin
 
Karin, those are fabulous!! if your walls are full, and you feel you can part with them, offering them on Etsy ~ which is very art/graphics oriented, imo ~ i would think they'd be snatched right up; we do well with scarves and hankies there, and ours haven't been anywhere as unique and splendid as these!! another thought is that they might do well on ebay since it is such a targeted market: airlines, with SwissAir in particular.
 
Absolutely gorgeous! I don't imagine you can part with them!

I agree with pinkcoke about Scottish - I think they're wearing kilts too. Looks like the Scots Guard or something like that.

And the first one Bolivia probably with that hat.

I wonder if number two is Mexico?
 
Those are wonderful! I would be very tempted to frame them, but I'm like you and already have most of my walls covered! I wonder if that middle one isn't supposed to be the U.S? The red, white and blue colours, plus the guy is playing what looks like a banjo.
 
It's London! (or possibly Britain, not sure if the fishing scene is meant to be a Scottish Loch? and the guy relaxing in the hammock Wales? lol) Going clockwise from top left: the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben (that white circle is the clockface), the iconic Tourmaster doubledecker red bus, sadly now retired, The Archway is a war memorial I think. I will update as I work out what they all are...

The menu is the typical 'Continental' breakfast, that is offered at every hotel in Britain. It translates as:
Fruit Juice, Cornflakes, Cold ham, Bread, Butter, Jam, Cheese, Coffee, Tea, Hot chocolate.
 
Thanks so much for the ID, Pinkcoke! I thought I recognized Big Ben, and also the guard with his iconic hat, but wasn't sure if the rest was a different city or country...

Interesting that a typical mid-century breakfast is still being offered now! (When I went to Paris this summer, the hotel breakfast was much, much more substantial than the Continental fare I was expecting--eggs, sausage, even cream cheese and bagels!)
 
Whoops :BAGUSE: - yeah, Scottish is right of course. Just have my head full with all the things I should still do today!

Carrie, that hankie of yours is super cool! I've never seen one with a menu on it, but what a nice idea, instead of a paper menu that will just be thrown away. I'm guessing this was made to be used on different flights - the breakfast menu on it is pretty standard - but it is interesting that it is in French, not English... Also I'm seeing different sorts of desinations, like London, Paris - maybe Spain (windmills like they have in some places there?) on the bottom left and Greece or Italy with that pillar on the bottom right? The only explanation for the menu being only in French I find is that this was maybe used for flights out of Geneva? And maybe only for European flights, as the destinations depicted look European. There was a time when you still got a full breakfast on European flights - even in the late 90s and early 00's.
I flew a lot on Swissair European flights before they went bust in 2001 - I finished my traineeship in '98, so these were my first three years of working and earning fully, and making the best of it. Lots and lots of short city trips, sometimes even just for a day, using and earning up my under-25-bonus-miles. They usually involved the earliest morning flights out of Zurich, or some early Monday morning flights flying back (and straight to the office then) when Sunday evening return flights were sold out or too expensive. Even on the short routes like Paris (one hour, with jet stream 50 just minutes), you got a juice, a coffee or tea and a croissant with butter and jam - in Economy class! And those croissants were the best ever... warm, flaky, buttery... and a total mess to eat. And a little chocolate in the end. I always knew I didn't need to have breakfast when flying so early, I'd get it on board anyway. Ahhh... memories.
But just to say, thinking back to the 60s, when these flights would have taken a little longer still due to the aircraft types they had then, and thinking what on-board service was like then, this is what I am thinking this was used for. If you watch the PanAm TV series... Swissair had about the same meaning for Switzerland as PanAm had for Americans. If you worked for them as a stewardess, you were "it". And the service, the foods served etc. were just as opulent at the time. They really seemed to have money for the most incredible things - like these hankies, which must have been produced in the 1000s....

Karin
 
Thank you for showing those wonderful vintage SwissAir hankies Karin, and am also glad to have seen Carrie's menu hankie. I also enjoyed hearing about your earlier days in travel as well.

This thread has reminded me that I have some SwissAir pieces tucked away somewhere, along with some airline hand fans (with a cat one from JAL somewhere) and other travel giveaways. Must dig them out!
 
Loved reading about these hankies - Karin, Qantas still give you meals with every flight, but they're the only Australian airline to do that any more. I always fly with them as a result.

Carrie, the arch on your hankie could be London's Marble Arch or Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Because it's next to Westminster, I'm inclined to the former.
 
Karin, those are delightful! I never knew such things existed. It's so fun to get onto the boards and make new discoveries like this. Thanks for posting!!

P.S. have you thought about putting them in little frames and hanging them in the bathroom or kitchen?
 
Actually Marble Arch is a different shape, (It has three arches, a larger central one with two smaller either side) so I'm inclined to think it's the L'arc de Triomphe, and it's London and Paris. That's an Ionic Pillar, which probably means Greece. Not sure about the man with the pipe and the mermaid though!
 
I was thinking of the Arc de Triomphe too :).

@Nicole - I know. As Tourism Australia and also our main local agent work chiefly with Qantas, that's what I got for domestic flights on these familiarization trips. I will probably be going to Perth in June, to attend the Australian Tourism Exchange. Hoping Qantas will be able to sponsor my flight... I really like flying with them and it's one of the two airlines that we have the best connections with - their staff here in Zurich are exceedingly nice and helpful.

@Laura - that sounds great! Would love to see what stuff you have. When the big Swissair auction was held, were they really sold all the old stuff that was still in the company's possession off to recover as much money as possible after they failed, I went to the pre-view and later in the auction managed to buy something online - a little book from the 50s that passengers were given on their flights from Switzerland to New York. This is from the pre-jet aircraft era, when they flew that route with a DC-6 and several stops along the way. It details the flight itinerary, shows when which meal is served, gives all the technical info on the aircraft, and also contains a small guide to New York and the U.S. in general. All in German, French and English. It's just a little piece of travel history.

Karin
 
That book does sound like a fantastic "souvenir" of travel history.

I didn't realize that SwissAir used to be the "it" airline (nor did I realize the same about PanAm, till the show!) Thanks so much for sharing your/their history, Karin--fascinating!

(And thanks to everyone for helping IDing the sites/sights in my hankie--I had the feeling it referred to a few Western European cities, but am not enough of a world traveller to confidently ID even iconic sights, especially in stylized form!)
 
Yes, Swissair was quite "the" airline. Not that they didn't have their share of air desasters - there were a few in the 50s/60s, then they were hit by terrorist attacks too in the 70s like other airlines as well, and of course then there was the Halifax crash of '98 - still, their reputation almost up to the end was that this was the company that "couldn't fail". Probably THE most trusted brand/company in Switzerland from the 50s onwards. There was a sense of national pride about them the everybody seemed to have. Lots and lots of people put their money into Swissair stock because it was considered so safe - and lost it all when it failed.

Karin
 
I just posted a vintage swissair hanky in my shop. The Scottish Bagpipers. It was fun postingrulesemoti
 
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