Today in Postal History
This cover is one of the choice pieces of Zeppelin philately.
Neatly prepared at Australia House
on the Strand in London,
it was put in the mail after being franked in Liechtenstein.
It also has a neat tri-lingual airmail etiquette.
Graf Zeppelin service was requested.
It was cancelled in Vaduz with a CDS.
A neat red handstamp was also added for the Vaduz visit of the
Graf Zeppelin.
A fine bridge CDS was added as a receiver the same day in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
Lausanne is on the north shore of Lake Geneva in western Switzerland.
The flight covered about 230 km.
I believe the Vaduz to Lausanne portion of the cover's journey
was the only portion on which it was carried by the Graf Zeppelin;
however, I don't have any references to confirm this Zeppelin trip.
Can anyone out there help on this point?
The destination was Olinda, Victoria, Australia.
Olinda is a suburb about 35 km east of the center of Melbourne.
There are no receiving marks.
The franking is particularly interesting.
The high value stamp was issued June 1, 1931,
specifically for the visit of the Graf Zeppelin.
Typically, large portions of the revenue from the sales
of such special stamps went to the Zeppelin company.
The stamp is a 2 fr. blue black (Scott C8) and
shows the Zeppelin over Naafkopf, and the Falknis Range.
As a stamp it ranks right up there with other valuable Zeppelins.
Its catalog value used exceeds the value mint.
Today in Postal History
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Pastnotes
Index - The First 300 and the Next 208
provides more tidbits about stamps and collectors.
Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.