Today in Postal History

Maldives to United States
November 11, 1962

This is a relatively modern picture postcard used for drug advertising.
Abbott Laboratories sent these out regularly from 1956 to 1968.
The idea was to catch the Doctor's eye by sending a cover
from an exotic place with a colorful view and interesting stamp.

This postcard was sent from Malé in the Maldive Islands
to encourage the use of Pentothal as an anesthetic.

The Maldive Islands are a cluster of coral islands in the Indian Ocean
several hundred km southwest of the southern tip of India.
Malé is the capital.

This cover shows the minaret of the Juma Mosque in Malé.

The cover is franked with two stamps from the
United Nations Malaria Eradication Omnibus Issue of 1962.
The stamps are the 2 laree chestnut and the 5 laree turquoise-blue (SG 88 and 90).

The postcard bore a preprinted label from Abbott's mailing list
and was marked Printed Matter to qualify for the low rate.
The message which appears to be script was, of course, printed.

The destination was a doctor in Port Townsend, Washington.
Port Townsend is on the northeast corner of the Olympic peninsula on the Puget Sound.

I'm sure there are collectors for these items because they were always of interest.
I wonder which Abbott executive was a stamp collector?

R. J. DuBordieu, Abbott Product Advertising Manager, was responsible for the "Round the World" campaign.
The mailing list had as many as 200,000 doctors and healthcare professionals.
Whether DuBordieu was a stamp collector or not is unknown.
Chip Gliebman found this Dear Doctor page by Tom Fortunato devoted to those interested in these cards.
Thanks, Chip!

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Pastnotes Index - The First 300 and the Next 208
provides more tidbits about stamps and collectors.

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