Ballooning Gallery

5c Buffalo Balloon imperforate vertical pair, 1877. Creator: Unknown

5c Buffalo Balloon imperforate vertical pair, 1877. Perhaps the most enigmatic of all American stamps, the Buffalo balloon stamp is certainly among the premier rarities in aerophilately. Since it was privately issued for use with a standard U.S. postal service 3-cent stamp to pay for air handling of a mailed piece, it was (if one includes both private and government issues) the world's first airmail stamp. The stamp is an accurate representation of the enormous 92,000 cubic foot "Buffalo" balloon of Professor Samuel Archer King (1828-1914), and was designed by John B. Lillard, a clerk in the Wheeler firm and a passenger on the great flight. Interestingly, the engraver of the stamp was John H. Snively, a scientist who provided apparatus for experiments on the flight. The stamps were printed tete-beche format--that is, they are shown right side up and upside down below on one sheet. It is likely that in printing the stamp, one side was printed, and then the sheet was taken out and turned round and fed back in the press to produce a mirror image of the first row

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ascent of Mr Green's Balloon, 1845. Creator: Unknown

Ascent of Mr Green's Balloon, 1845. On Monday evening, Mr. [Charles] Green made a very beautiful ascent in his monster Nassau Balloon, from the grounds of Cremorne House, Chelsea [in London], which were crowded with company to witness the spectacle. There was on the occasion of this ascent some novelty to attract the spectators and to amuse them. In addition to Mr. Green...there was amongst the "intrepid aeronauts" the celebrated Mr. Thomas Matthews, the Clown of Drury Lane Theatre, who immediately before the ascent favoured his companions in the car, and the thousands of persons who surrounded it, with the favourite ballad of "Hot Codlins". Mr. Matthews was equipped in full theatrical costume; the rest of the party in clothes more appropriate for an aerial trip'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The first balloon ascent, c1785 (1919)

The first balloon ascent, c1785 (1919). Joseph-Michel (1740-1810) and Jacques-Etienne (1745-1799) Montgolfier developed a hot air balloon in Annonay, Ardeche, France, and demonstrated it publicly on September 19, 1783. The first untethered flight with human passengers launched on November 21 1783. King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier (1754-1785) and Francois Laurent le Vieux d'Arlandes (1742-1809), petitioned for the honour. From The Wonder Book of Aircraft for Boys and Girls, edited by Harry Golding. [Ward. Lock & Co. Limited, London, Melbourne and Toronto, 1919]

© The Print Collector