New Abbott Pentothal Postcard Discovery- Different Picture Cards Used for the Same Kenya Mailing
by Roger S. Cichorz, April 9, 2011
I was fortunate recently to acquire the Abbott Pentothal “Dear Nurse Anesthetist” version of the “Greetings from East Africa” card (#82n on Tom Fortunato’s master checklist). Like the one illustrated on pages 167 and 168 of David C. Lai’s Pentothal Postcards, mine is also franked with the Kenya 1966 5¢ and 15¢ animal definitive stamps and postmarked with a Nairobi boxed slogan cancellation and September 1, 1967 circular datestamp.
Figure 1. Kenya “Greetings from East Africa” Nurse Anesthetist Postcard (#82n).
The Kenya card in Roger Cichorz’s collection has the same printed message, stamp franking, and postmark type and date as that
illustrated in David C. Lai’s Pentothal Postcards, but is “N. 282” of the Sapra Studio series with a different “six-view” picture.
Figure 2. Kenya “Greetings from East Africa” Nurse Anesthetist Postcard (#82n).
The “N. 281” postcard of the Sapra Studio series illustrated in David C. Lai’s Pentothal Postcards. Note the identical printed
message, stamp franking, and slogan cancellation on the address side, but different “six-view” picture than the card in Figure 1.
(Image of Kenya “Greetings from East Africa” card courtesy of David C. Lai)
However, the picture side of my card (Figure 1) is a completely different “six-views” than the one in Lai’s book (Figure 2). Lai’s is identified at the base of the vertical line on the address side as “N. 281” of the Sapra Studio (Nairobi, Kenya) series, while mine is designated “N. 282.” This is the first reported instance of an Abbott Pentothal “same-issue” mailing using two “face-different” postcards!
Because there are other “multi-view” postcards in this Sapra Studio series, it is possible (and perhaps even likely) that additional face-different cards were used for the 1967 Kenya mailing. Readers are urged to examine their Abbott Kenya postcards and report which example(s) are in their collections and, especially, any additional “face different” cards other than the two reported here. No “Dear Doctor” version postcards for this mailing have been reported yet, but these are presumed by the author to exist.