COLLECTING AIRLINE ADVERTISING
HAND FANS
By Cynthia Fendel
Remember when airline travel was exciting and luxurious? Back then some
airlines passed out "hand fans" to their passengers. These fans were
not just for advertising or souvenirs, yet they did serve that
function. Many had maps, indicating the air route and mileage. Safety
instructions were also provided on some and still others had menus or
wine lists.
Folklore as well as regional art decorated many of these fans. Trans
World Airlines provided a fan with 27 useful phrases translated into
Japanese. Japan Airline and Air France shared a fan with a recipe on
it. Japan Airlines provided their first class passengers with a fan to
write in their name and date commemorating crossing the International
Dateline, Equator or the North Pole. Of course, the fans often served
an obvious function because many an airplane cabin was without ground
air conditioning.
Although Asian countries produced many of these fans, over 63 different
airlines from both past and present have been known to put their name
or logo on a hand fan. Of course older fans such as one mentioning
Chicago and Southern Airline is valuable because of its age (pre 1953).
However, age is not the only factor in collecting these fans. Style of
the fan, such as the one provided by Garuda Airline made of horn and
buffalo hide is quite unusual. Fans from airlines that no longer fly
are definitely sought after. Airline and transport collectors as well
as hand fan collectors are both finding a great appreciation of these
vintage accessories from the past.
Cynthia's site: Hand Fan Pro
Cynthia's book on Celluloid Hand Fans
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