Ettore Bugatti Molsheim Envelope, 1934

Ettore Bugatti founded his factory at Molsheim, in Alsace, in 1909, and the cars that made his name were built there; Alsace was German when the works opened and became French after the First World War. By 1934 Molsheim had just introduced the Type 57, the touring Bugatti that would carry the company through the rest of the decade. This envelope crossed the Atlantic that winter. Typed to Monsieur J. L. Elbert of Holden, Missouri, U.S.A., it was posted at Molsheim on 24 January 1934 and stamped on arrival on 6 February.

It is a large manila envelope, printed in black in the top left corner: Ettore Bugatti, Fabrique d'Automobiles, Molsheim (Bas-Rhin). Five French stamps pay the postage, two orange 1 franc and two blue 1.50 franc stamps of the Paix design with a blue-violet Semeuse, cancelled with the Molsheim, Bas-Rhin date stamp, which is struck again clearly on the face. A receiving stamp, FEB 6 1934, records its arrival. The envelope is creased and handled, with one short end roughly torn, a piece missing from one orange stamp and a corner from the Semeuse, the wear of a working envelope that travelled from Alsace to Missouri more than ninety years ago.