Hindenburg Covers
Hindenburg transported large amounts of mail and valuable freight in addition to providing passenger service. Hindenburg’s maiden flight to North America included 1059 kg of mail, primarily first flight covers destined for stamp collectors. Later flights between Germany and North America carried between 90 and 236 kg of mail, including commercial mail as well as philatelic items, and flights within Germany and Europe also carried philatelic mail for collectors and zeppelin enthusiasts.
Note: The “Sieger numbers” mentioned below refer to the Zeppelin Post Katalog published by the Sieger-Verlag of Lorch/Wurttemberg. The Sieger catalog is invaluable not just as a philatelic reference to zeppelin mail, but also as a historic resource, since the catalog contains a comprehensive list of all flights by German commercial zeppelins from LZ-1 through LZ-130.
First Flight to South America
Hindenburg first flight cover, Europe to South America, March 31-April 4, 1936. (Sieger 402A)
First Flight to North America
Hindenburg carried its largest volume of mail (1059 kg in 60 mail sacks) on its first flight to North America. The majority of this mail was philatelic (i.e., created as souvenirs, or for stamp collectors) rather than commercial, and because of the large quantity of mail, these covers are not generally valuable unless they are unique in some way, but they are wonderful (and easy to find) souvenirs of this historic flight.
Letter written by Lady Drummond Hay to Clara Adams, and posted on board.
Hindenburg first flight cover, Germany to the United States, May 6-9. 1936. (Sieger 406D)
Registered mail, first flight from Germany to America, May 6-9. 1936. (Sieger 406D)
First flight from Germany to America, May 6-9. 1936. (Sieger 406D)
Posted on board Hindenburg during first flight from Germany to America, May 6-9, 1936. (Sieger 407B)
First Return Flight from North America
These covers are also relatively common, as Hindenburg carried 824 kg of mail on this flight.
First return flight from America to Germany, May 12-14, 1936. (Sieger 409)
First return flight from America to Germany, May 12-14, 1936. (Type III backstamp, Sieger 409C)
Forged Hindenburg Cover
Forgeries of mail from Hindenburg’s first flight to North America are rare, because these covers are generally not valuable enough to justify forging. But a well known forgery was created in 1938 by a German stamp dealer named Julius Bock, who claimed that these covers were flown to North America and back to Germany; in fact, they never saw the inside of a zeppelin. Bock made the glaring error of franking the covers with the wrong amount of postage (.55 Rpf, a rate for printed matter that was not valid on this flight). There are also errors in the lettering of the postmarks applied to these forged covers.
Forged cover sold by Julius Bock in 1938.
Genuine postmark on left, forged Bock postmark on right; notice shape of the "M" in Nordamerika and the "3" in 36. (click all images to enlarge)
Sixth North American Flight
Frankfurt to Lakehurst, August 5-11, 1936, mailed from the Olympic Games in Berlin and postmarked "Olympisches Dorf." (Sieger 428C)
Eight North American Flight
North America Flight, September 17-24, 1936. Posted at Nurnberg with NSDAP Party Day cancel, with enclosed letter. (Sieger 437B)
I welcome comments and emails, but please note that for various reasons I don’t like to offer an opinion on the value or authenticity of zeppelin covers or other items of airship memorabilia.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Dan, do you know which flights carried the least mail – i.e. which flight covers would therefore be the scarcest. Thanks for a great site. Regards Bruce
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
August 29th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
The smallest load of mail was the 4 kg carried on Flight 60 (March 23-March 26: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt). As a comparison, 213 kg of mail was carried on Flight 59, from Frankfurt to Rio, and 1,059 kg was carried on the first flight to North America.
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This is an awesome collection. By far my favorite is the forgery, however. Unfortunately, I cant tell the differences in the 3′s that you pointed out. What is it? Im dying here.
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Letter mail items could be “Posted on Board”.
(a) Does this mean posted into an on-board letter box (briefkasten), or would items of mail simply be handed to a member of staff? I have never been able to ascertain.
(b) Would this facility have been on all Zeppelin’s or just the Hindenburg?
Confirmation would really be appreciated. A fascinating and useful website – thank you. GLENN
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 6:38 am
There was a letter-box in Hindenburg’s writing room, or letters could be given to a member of the staff on Hindenburg or Graf Zeppelin. There was also a letter-box in the hangar into which letters could be deposited for posting on board.
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Glenn Morgan Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Your help is much appreciated. GLENN
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can you tell me anything about a flight 8-8-36 from brennon germ. to the usa. the card has the zepp. flying over the ship . the ship is at full steam . the stamp is a mit LZ129nach Nordamerika 50 deutche thanks any information would be help full eric
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Here is a link showing the passenger list of the Olympic June 23/24, 1936 flight.
http://www.airships.net/wp-content/uploads/schmeling-passenger-list-web1.jpg
Please note that this photo may have copywrite restrictions.
Regards, /M
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As a Freemason I have just received a first day cover issued by the Masonic Stamp Club of New York post mark New York May 9th 9.30 am 1936 also franked THIRD INTERNATIONAL PHILATELIC EXHIBITION STATION with Anton Huber & Sohn
Briefmarken-import-export
Munchen 13, Nordendstrabe 40
L.P.H.V. Berlin, A.S.D.A. New York etc.
As well as an Lakehurst frank first flight- Frankfurt am Main and stamps on the back franked with an 0 I am not a stamp collector but would like to know more about it., as well as the masonic connections Thankyou in anticipation Jim
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I am a philatelist and specalise in Irish related items. The cover I have was supposed to have gone from Lakehurst by the Hidenburg and was posted from Boston, Mass to Bray, Ireland.
But it has an “Insufficient postage for Air Mail / dispatched *.*.* by mail” cachet, over-stamped with an extra 6c stamp.
Had this of had the correct amount, would this have flown out on the flight of the 26th June 1936? The postmark is for 22nd June 1936.
Regards, Eddy
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This website is very interesting – thank you for all the work put into it.
Recently my uncle, who is 85, gave me a letter that was addressed to my deceased father, similar to the ones shown on the website. It appears to be a first flight envelope as on the back it has stamps indicating it arrived in New York May 9, 1936. My father was around 11 years old at the time but I know he collected stamps so perhaps this was for his collection. I have no desire to sell it but is it of any value to someone other than myself?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Thank you for your kind comments!
For various reasons I don’t offer advice about the authenticity or value of particular items, but as a general matter, covers from the first flight to North America are not especially valuable in monetary terms (although there are exceptions) because so many were carried. They are wonderful historical souvenirs, though.
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david helms Reply:
January 17th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
hi dan . in terms of airship history, what do you consider to be valuable that can be purchased? thanks for a reply.
david
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I have three postcards that involve the airship “America.” One shows Mr. Vaniman holding his mascot, Trent, another shows Trent with his head and paws sticking out of a basket, and the final shows “America” deploying a life boat after completing 1008 miles in 72 hours. Each of these are unused and in excellent condition. I purchased these 10-15 years ago from an estate that also included railway schedules, Cunard flyers, old menus, and ephemera from the American Medical Assoc. I have methodically read and looked at everything I can find both hard copy and on line to no avail. Value? Best way to market? Thank you for your assistance!!!
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I have a post card from the ’36 Olympics, with Hindenburg postmarks June 24, 1936. The address side has a print of the stadium by Georg Fritz. The back side has multiple stamps, some of them with airships, and the autographs of 6 passengers: Gretchen Cron, boxer Max Schmeling, Adm’l M. Bird (?), Edwin Beinecke, ___ Beinecke, and Herman Cron. It seems these six people were travelling together and signed the card as a souvenir; it was never mailed.
I’m intrigued by the combination of the Olympics, the Hindenburg, and the famous and near-famous people who signed it. (Was this Schmeling’s victory home-coming after his match with Joe Lewis?)
With these autographs, this is probably a unique item. Can you give me any idea of its value? Condition is fair-good.
This site is fascinating. I’m looking forward to seeing the passenger lists posted.
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
March 29th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Thank you for your post. The people who signed your card were all passengers on Hindenburg’s June 23 crossing from Lakehurst to Frankfurt, under the command of Hugo Eckener. German Boxer Max Schmeling had just knocked out American Joe Louis in the 12th round of their famous fight on June 19, 1936 at Yankee Stadium in New York, and was returning to a hero’s welcome in Germany, including a meeting with Hitler. I will post a complete passenger list from that flight when I get a chance, but the passengers included Mr and Mrs Edward J. Beinecke (a Yale graduate who was the head of the Sperry and Hutchinson company, famous for their S&H Green Stamps), Mr and Mrs Herman Cron (a well-known big game hunter who owned a hunting lodge in the Black Forest of Germany), and Mr Adriel Bird.
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I have a framed piece of mail, canceled at the Olympic Village with eight different Olympic event stamps. It was sent to Gustave Eiseman, Board of Trade, Kansas City, Mo. The cancellation date is 5 June 1936. If you would like a photo, let me know where I can email a copy or I can send a URL to download it.
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