Zeppelins carried a great deal of mail, mostly because zeppelin first flight covers and other philatelic covers were prized by stamp collectors and the postal revenue from these items financed much of the cost of operating the zeppelins.
Zeppelins were the fastest way to send mail across the ocean in their day, and so some commercial mail also exists, especially on the South Atlantic route. LZ-127’s service to South America cut mail time from weeks to days and was especially popular among businessmen.
Hindenburg’s 2-1/2 day service was the fastest way to send mail between Europe and North America in 1936, when ocean liners took five days or more to cross the Atlantic. Hindenburg’s irregular schedule made the service unappealing for most business uses, but no faster way to send mail existed until May, 1939, when Pan American Airways inaugurated airmail service across the North Atlantic in Boeing 314 Clipper flying boats.
Zeppelins did have mail competition across the South Atlantic beginning in 1934, when the German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa began a multi-leg airmail service between Europe and South America which crossed the Atlantic at its narrowest point, between Gambia in Africa and Natal in Brazil, offering a coordinated mail service between zeppelins and airplanes.
Graf Zeppelin Covers
Hindenburg Covers
LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II Covers
Akron / Macon Covers
Medals from the Zeppelin era are at least as interesting as postal covers, and with far fewer counterfeits. Even the most rare Zeppelin medals from the First World War are within reach of any collector willing to part with $1,000 to obtain one. Medals from the late 1920s often can be had for less than $200 in nice uncirculated condition.
Hello, I recently discovered amongst my father’s stamp collection a stamped, hand-cancelled, photo postcard (not a cover) of the Hindenburg sent on it’s maiden voyage by Karl Fickes to my grandfather (an executive of General Tire in Akron). As Goodyear no longer has a museum, do you know of a repository or archive that would consider this a worthy addition to a collection? Do you also have an image of the passenger manifest with Karl’s name on it? Thanks.
The Zeppelin Museum is located in Friedrichshafen, Germany, which is on the shores of Lake Constance, in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Thanks, Bruce. And the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen is well worth a visit!
Hi, Zeppelin covers from British Borneo (Sarawak and Brunei; 1934, 1935) are scarce. I will be grateful if one can point me to catalogues where these items are depicted. thanks. chun
What was the rate for a card in 1936 Germany to US. I have a card with 65pf but think this may be incorrect.
Thanks,
I sold my collection od Zeppelin envelopes and accidently included something the resembled all of the other red, round postmarks saying Sudamerika etc. Except, this one seemed to be Hermann Siegels’ personal postmark. It had his name on it and I don’t think I want to know its value because I am sure it has some significant value due to the scarcity .Any thoughts?
Have a German stamp dated 13.2.1930. Most of the franking shows…
“Amerikanische-……….. Within the circular franking are “Bremen- New York”.
Doubt its a Zepplin, but what is it then…plane? V. doubtful. Possibly ship? Not had any luck yet on the web, but I’m not used to this sort of search, so can anyone advise, please?
Cheers, John Rollando
Full transcript probably reads “Deutsche-Amerikanishe Seepost – Bremen-New York”. If it’s a double circle most probably the Bremen or Columbus (Europa not commissioned at that date), if single circle could be any of the other NDL or Hapag steamers serving the North Atlantic route.
Too early to be catapult mail. Ships “Bremen” and “Europa” carried a seaplane that was catapulted off the steamer about 1800 km before ship’s arrival. Thus mail was arriving about 50 hours earlier than the ship. This service started 1929 and was not operating during the winter. First 1930 catapult mail was launched 29 april. I don’ know if the ship crossed the Atlantic in February. If there is a cachet saying “Schleuderflug” it is definitely catapult mail.
How does one obtain information on particular flights. I am interested in tracing a route and information about how many passengers, the amount of mail carried on each leg, etc.
Let me know which flight and I will be glad to provide the information.
Rio de janeiro 28-10-1832 to Freidrichhafen 3-11-1932
My wife has a post card showing the Rauchsalon(sitting area) on the LZ 129 Hindenberg with two stamps one of which is the 50D with a picture of the Hindenberg on it.It was sent from the Hindenberg to her aunt and it is post marked LUFTSCIFF HINDENBERG,25.6.1936 .The post card descibes the senders view over Gatwick England,Amsterdam and down the Rhine to Frankfurt-I thought this might be of interest and obviously am questioning as to how unique it is-WMGoldberg
The latest English version of a Michel Zepplin catalog I can find is a 2003 copy. Has a newer edition been published and could you recommend a source?
Thanks!
Member APS
I cannot find any information as to the postal rates for Zeppelin mail from the U.S. Why were there 65c, $1.30, $2.65 and 50c stamps? What rates did these pay?
This is a hard topic to research, but as best I found out the 65c was for a postcard and $1.30 on one segment of the total flight, and $2.60 carried a letter all the way. $3.90 (and aren’t we lucky they didn’t issue another stamp for that?) would cover the round trip mailing of a letter. These were the 1930 rates. I see some covers with all 3 1930 stamps, but believe that was for philatelic reasons. As for the 1933 stamp, it carried a letter across the Atlantic for just 50c (it was, after all, deep in the Depression).