Aviation collectibles from the early days of civilian flight are flying high right now.

Auction houses are reporting sale prices that are cruising well at higher altitudes.

When flying today, it is difficult to believe there was a time when passenger travel was young and enjoyable. The aircrafts were beautifully designed and decorated. Full course meals were served on fancy china, and the crew marched to their aircraft as if on parade. Hard to believe, but yes, such a time did once exist.

The 1930s saw a world coming out of economic depression and the Pan American Airways Clipper - “flying boats” symbolized elegance and luxury, adventure and romance. Like their maritime namesakes, the Clippers used the oceans to form a vast global network of travel routes. Pan American founder Juan Trippe was an aviation visionary who saw the coming importance of international travel for a rapidly changing world. His fleet of 28 Clippers were named after the famous sailing ships that opened the ocean routes to the Orient and China in the mid 1800s. The Pan American Clipper “flying boats” would play a key role in the evolution of transoceanic flight, setting time and distance records across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, providing airmail delivery between countries, and eventually serving the Allies as troop and cargo transports throughout World War II.

During World War II the Clippers would carry President Franklin Roosevelt on a secret mission to Casablanca in 1943. A Clipper would carry British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on many trips. Churchill was even photographed smoking his famous large cigar in the cockpit of a Clipper.

The area of collecting material relating to the Pan American Clippers is vast and in many cases there is crossover appeal. A 1943 Camel cigarette ad features Pan Am Clipper Captain Joseph H. Hart proudly announcing that “they’ve got what it takes: 12 times across the ocean in 13 days!” Several issues of Life magazine in the 1930s featured the Clippers on the front cover. Ads for Pan American could be seen at travel agencies and inside the pages of Life and other magazines of the period. In addition to products that were carried on the aircraft, used by the crew members or were part of the actual aircraft, the Pan American ads became more patriotic as the war clouds moved closer on the horizon. So the Clipper advertising crosses over to appeal to the collector of material connected to World War II. Advertising from the war years included Galbestos hangars, Sylvania Electric Products with a color ad: “Midget Lightships to Guide Giant Clippers Home!” A large ad in Life magazine was partly a Pan Am advertisement and a patriotic ad for the United States Navy. The collectible ad features the Pacific routes of the Clippers - Honolulu - Midway Island - Wake Island - Guam - the Philippines. At the bottom of the ad is an American sailor looking up at the passing aircraft. A large Clipper appears with the headline: “American Outposts of Security and Defense.”

From the early days of Hollywood there was a love of anything connected to aviation. When the famous China Clippers appeared it did not take Hollywood long to realize the public loved the romance of the Clippers. So in 1933 Flying Down to Rio starring Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond and pairing for the first time Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire hit the movie screen. The poster featured show girls dancing on the wing of an early S-40 Clipper. The movie trailer screamed: “musical romance staged in the clouds, too big for the world so they staged it in the clouds, too beautiful for words, so they set it to music.” A 1936 movie featured Humphrey Bogart and Pat O’Brien in China Clipper. The Pan American Clipper was known as the China Clippers for their flights to the Orient. A one sheet movie poster from this film is difficult to find in any condition. If found expect to pay several thousand dollars. A beautiful one sheet linen poster was made for the Swedish version of the movie. It is valued at $1,000. The Swedish version features: Pat O’Brien in leather flying hat and a giant China Clipper in flight. The movie title is written on the wings of the aircraft.

In 1939 the famous Charlie Chan murder mysteries featured Charlie Chan at Treasure Island. The film opens with detective Charlie Chan and his son flying over the Pan American airfield at Treasure Island, San Francisco. If one visits Treasure Island today, the original Pan Am hangars and Art Deco Administration Building with its blue control tower on top are still there. For Indiana Jones collectors the buildings of Treasure Island were featured when he was departing on his many travels. Several other movie posters have crossover appeal to aviation collectors including Charlie Chan at the Olympics, 1942s B movie Bombay Clipper and Now Voyager which starred Bette Davis and Paul Henreid. The English language poster of Now Voyager is difficult to find. The French version, issued in Europe, can be found more easily. Theme posters are a nice decoration for the den or office.

For those on a limited budget there are hundreds of postcards that were produced of the Clippers in both black and white, and color.

There are postcards showing the Clipper landing at Dinner Key, Miami, or taking off. Dinner Key is now part of the Miami City Hall. One postcard features passengers inside the Miami terminal looking at the large globe. If one visits Miami, the 1930s globe is front and center at the Miami Museum of Science. It has been updated, but above the globe are two photographs from the 1930s to show its original context. Many of the color postcards were based on earlier black and white photographs of the same subject.

The beautiful color travel posters can be found at auction houses from time to time. Swann Galleries of New York City has regular auctions of early aviation travel posters. Bidding for the most collectible posters usually starts at $6,000. The 1930s color advertising posters are some of the most sought after Pan American material. The famous “Flying Down to Rio” travel poster features the aircraft coming into the lush lagoon with the mountains, grass hut and a Hawaiian beauty reclining on the sand. Artist Frank Mackintosh’s poster “Hawaii Overnight” screams of luxury, wealth, romance and warm, sunny climates. Created in 1938 the poster sells in the $9,000 range.

How about a beer can from the Grace Brothers Brewery of Santa Rosa, Calif? For a brief period in the late 1930s the company marketed Clipper Pale Ale. The metal can featured a China Clipper aircraft in flight. Due to the short production run and, of course, the fact that metal with liquid rusts; a can in good or excellent condition is very rare. Several years ago one sold on eBay for several thousand. Cigarette companies issued aviation cards in their packages of cigarettes. The rare item is the album to place the cards in. It cost an extra 10 to 25 cents when new. In some instances one had to collect a set number of coupons found on the cigarette packs to be eligible to purchase the album. Cards are in the $3-$5 range depending on the aircraft pictured, the album can be worth $50.

Cereal companies gave items away. For 10 cents and several box tops, hats, wings and flying cardboard aircraft could be ordered and delivered to your mailbox. The Wyandotte Toy Co. manufactured a miniature B-314 Clipper aircraft. The metal aircraft carries the Pan Am logo and name Dixie Clipper. In today’s market an aircraft in good condition can be purchased for $550-600.