Zeppelin mail was mail carried on zeppelins, the German airships that saw civilian use from 1908 to 1939. Almost every zeppelin flight carried mail, sometimes in large quantities; the covers usually received special postmarks, and a number of nations issued postage stamps specifically intended for use on mail carried by the zeppelins.
The first zeppelin to carry mail was LZ 4, in July 1908, followed shortly by LZ 3. The early flights did not use any special markings; the first was an oval reading "LUFTSCHIFF / SIGNALPOST" around the edge and "Z III" in the center, used on LZ 6 (Z 3) from August to October 1909. By 1911 a number of different postmarks were in use; a typical example was a circle reading "AN BORD DES / ZEPPELIN / LUFTSCHIFFES", with a date in the center and the name of the zeppelin at bottom. These were actually applied on board the zeppelin while in flight, at a small postal station.
The zeppelins were taken into military service in 1914, and thereafter did not carry civilian mail, although military commanders had special handstamps applied to their mail.
In late 1919, LZ 120 Bodensee resumed flights and mail carriage, using postmarks much as before the war, until 1921 when it was given to Italy as a war reparation. LZ 126 carried mail briefly in 1924 before it was delivered to the United States and renamed the Los Angeles (ZR-3). The Los Angeles carried mail between Lakehurst, New Jersey, Bermuda, and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, several times.
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin had a long and celebrated career. Within weeks of its first flight in September 1928, the Graf Zeppelin carried the first airmail to go directly from Germany to the US and vice versa. Germany issued special 2-mark and 4-mark stamps for the occasion. On the return trip, the zeppelin carried almost 52,000 postcards and 50,000 letters. In 1929, Graf Zeppelin circled the globe, with stops in Tokyo and Los Angeles. By the time it was taken out of service in June 1937, the zeppelin had made 590 flights, each flight carrying up to 12 tons of mail to and from dozens of countries around the world.
Although LZ 129 Hindenburg is most famous for its fiery end, for the 14 months of its existence, it carried considerable amounts of mail overseas, and many of those are readily available today. Most of the 17,609 pieces of mail on the last flight were destroyed in the fire, but a handful were recovered, and today they are highly prized crash covers.
The LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II was the last of the zeppelins to carry mail; it was in civilian service for only a few months, from October 1938 to August 1939, and made only 30 trips, all within Germany.
Zeppelin stamps were issued by a few countries to pay the postage for mail carried on Zeppelin flights during the late 1920s and early 1930s when Zeppelins flew passengers and mail from Germany to other countries and on return flights. Some stamps were regular issues overprinted while other were specially designed.
| Postal administration | Year | Denominations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1931 | 5¢, 18¢, 90¢ | black overprint on 5¢, 18¢ red overprint on 90¢ [1] : 492 |
| Bolivia | 1930 | 5c on 10c, 10c, 15c, 25c, 50c, 1b | overprint "CORREO AEREO / R. S. 6–V–1930" 5c on 10c has additional "5 CTS." overprint 10c known in black and bronze overprint 50c known in red and bronze overprint [1] : 908 |
| Brazil | 1931 | 2500r on 200r, 500r on 300r 2500r on 3000r | overprint "ZEPPELIN / 2$500" overprint "2.500 REIS" [1] : 1025–26 |
| 1932 | 3500r on 5000r 7000r on 10,000r | overprint "ZEPPELIN / 3$500" [1] : 1025–26 | |
| Cyrenaica | 1933 | 3l, 5l, 10l, 12l, 15l, 20l | Zeppelin and clouds forming Pegasus Zeppelin and ancient galley Zeppelin and giant bowman [2] : 668 |
| Egypt | 1931 | 50m on 27m, 100m on 27m | bilingual overprint "GRAF ZEPPELIN / AVRIL 1931" overprint error "1951 instead of "1931" [2] : 979 |
| Finland | 1930 | 10m | overprint "ZEPPELIN / 1930" forgeries are known error "1830" for "1930" [2] : 1112 |
| Germany | 1928 -31 | 1m, 2m, 4m | stamps show Graf Zeppelin crossing ocean [3] : 163 |
| 1930 | 2m, 4m [note 1] | overprint "(logo) / SÜDAMERIKA / FAHRT" [3] : 163 | |
| 1931 | 1m, 2m, 4m [note 1] | brown overprint "POLAR– / FAHRT / 1931" [3] : 163 | |
| 1933 | 1m, 2m, 4m [note 1] | overprint "Chicagofahrt / Weltaustellung / 1933" for Chicago World's Fair flight [3] : 163 | |
| Greece | 1933 | 30d, 100d, 120d | Zeppelin over Acropolis [3] : 427 |
| Hungary | 1931 | 1p | overprint "Zeppelin / 1931" on Turul carrying messenger stamp [3] : 766 |
| Iceland | 1931 | 30a | regular issue overprinted "Zeppelin / 1931" [3] : 799 |
| Italy | 1933 | 3l, 5l, 10l, 12l, 15l, 20l | Zeppelin over pyramid of Caius Cestius [3] : 1166 |
| Liechtenstein | 1931 | 1fr, 2fr | 1fr - Zeppelin over Naafkopf Falkniz Range 2fr Zeppelin over Valüna Valley [4] : 500 |
| 1936 | 1fr, 2fr | Airship Graf Zeppelin [4] : 500 | |
| Paraguay | 1935 | 3p on 4p, 4p | overprint "Cerreo Aéreo / (Zeppelin image) / ""Graf Zeppelin"" the Zeppelin image was handstamps while the text was printed [5] : 150 |
| Russia | 1930 | 40k 80k | Zeppelin and "Call to Complete 5-year Plan in 4 Years" for Graf Zeppelin flight from Friederichshafen to Moscow and return [5] : 706 |
| 1931 32 | 10k, 15k, 20k, 50k, 1r | 5 different designs imperforate and with varying perforations and watermarks - bogus perforations errors are known [5] : 706 | |
| 1931 | 30k, 35k, 1r, 2r | North Pole issue with Graf Zeppelin and Icebreaker Malygin transferring mail all imperforate and perforated [5] : 706 | |
| San Marino | 1933 | 3l on 50c, 5l on 80c, 10l on 1l 12l on 2l, 15l on 2.60l, 20l on 3l | overprint "(Zeppelin image) / ZEPPELIN / 1933 / L. (value)." also known inperforate [5] : 963 |
| Tripolitania | 1933 | 3l, 5l, 10l, 12l, 15l, 20l | Mercury and Zeppelin [6] : 573 |
| United States | 1930 | 65¢, $1.30, $2.60 | three different designs illustrating a Zeppelin [1] : 123 |
| 1933 | 50¢ | for the Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair flight [1] : 123 |
| General |  Curtis "Jenny" JN-4 | |
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A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all forms of rigid airships. Zeppelins were first flown commercially in 1910 by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), the world's first airline in revenue service. By mid-1914, DELAG had carried over 10,000 fare-paying passengers on over 1,500 flights. During World War I, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and as scouts, resulting in over 500 deaths in numerous bombing raids on Britain.
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company on the shores of Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company. It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.
A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes, and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term "postmark" refers specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation" as it may serve that purpose. The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. Cancellations of some countries have been extensively studied by philatelists, and many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves.
The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in fourteen large volumes that include twelve volumes containing all the countries of the world that have ever issued postage stamps, the United States Specialized Catalog, and the 1840–1940 Classic Specialized Catalogue. The numbering system used by Scott to identify stamps is dominant among stamp collectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
For postage stamps, separation is the means by which individual stamps are made easily detachable from each other.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Afghanistan.
USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, which was built in 1923–1924 by the Zeppelin company in Friedrichshafen, Germany, as war reparations. It was delivered to the United States Navy in October 1924 and after being used mainly for experimental work, particularly in the development of the American parasite fighter program, was decommissioned in 1932.
A philatelic cover is an envelope prepared with a stamp(s) and address and sent through the mail delivery system for the purpose of creating a collectible item. Stamp collectors began to send mail to each other and to themselves early on, and philatelic mail is known from the late 19th century onward. While some collectors specialize in philatelic covers, especially first day covers and cacheted covers, others regard them as contrived objects that are not reflective of real-world usage, and often will pay a higher price for a cover that represents genuine commercial use. However, mail sent by stamp collectors is no less a genuine article of postage than is mail sent with no concern of seeing the mailed item again. Philatelic covers include mail from first airmail flight and first day of stamp issues ceremonies. Over the years there have been numerous Expositions where special postmarks are made and where a post office is set up where mail can be sent from on the given date of the Expo'. Like any other genuine item of mail these covers include postage stamps and postmarks of the time period and were processed and delivered by an official postal system. Often a philatelic cover will have more historical significance than randomly mailed covers as philatelic covers are also often mailed from the location on the date of an important or noteworthy event, like an inauguration or a space launch.
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship that flew from 1928 to 1937. It offered the first commercial transatlantic passenger flight service. The ship was named after the German airship pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a count in the German nobility. It was conceived and operated by Hugo Eckener, the chairman of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
The Graf Zeppelin was the last of the German rigid airships built by Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class, and the second zeppelin to carry the name "Graf Zeppelin" and thus often referred to as Graf Zeppelin II. Due to the United States refusal to export helium to Germany, the Graf Zeppelin II was inflated with hydrogen and therefore never carried commercial passengers. It made 30 flights over 11 months in 1938–39, many being propaganda publicity flights; but staff of the Reich Air Ministry were aboard to conduct radio surveillance and measurements. The airship, along with its LZ 127 namesake were both scrapped in April 1940, and their duralumin framework salvaged to build aircraft for the Luftwaffe.
DELAG, acronym for Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft, was the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service. It operated a fleet of zeppelin rigid airships manufactured by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Corporation. Its headquarters were located in Frankfurt, Germany.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Croatia.
The two Hindenburg-class airships were hydrogen-filled, passenger-carrying rigid airships built in Germany in the 1930s and named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg. They were the last such aircraft to be constructed, and in terms of their length, height, and volume, the largest aircraft ever built. During the 1930s, airships like the Hindenburg class were widely considered the future of air travel, and the lead ship of the class, LZ 129 Hindenburg, established a regular transatlantic service. The airship's destruction in a highly publicized accident was the end of these expectations. The second ship, LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin, was never operated on a regular passenger service, and was scrapped in 1940 along with its namesake predecessor, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, by order of Hermann Göring.
Heroes of the Resistance is a set of twenty-three stamps issued from 1957 to 1961 by La Poste, commemorating 27 members of the French Resistance who died during the Occupation of France between 1940 and 1945. Of the 27, two were Catholic monks and nuns and three were women.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Spain.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Zimbabwe.
The 1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps were a set of three airmail postage stamps, each depicting the image of the Graf Zeppelin, issued by the United States Post Office Department in 1930, exclusively for delivery of mail carried aboard that airship. Although the stamps were valid for postage on mail sent on the Zeppelin Pan American flight from Germany to the United States, via Brazil, the set was marketed to collectors and was largely intended to promote the route. 93.5% of the revenue generated by the sale of these stamps went to the Zeppelin Airship Works in Germany. The Graf Zepplin stamps were issued as a gesture of goodwill toward Germany. The three stamps were used briefly and then withdrawn from sale. The remainder of the stock was destroyed by the Post Office Department. Due to the high cost of the stamps during the Great Depression, most collectors and the general public could not afford them. Consequently, only about 227,000 of the stamps were sold, just 7% of the total printed, making them relatively scarce and prized by collectors.
Maurice Noguès was a French aviator from Brittany.
Lionel Dubray (Lionel Henri Gontran Dubray, was a member of the French Resistance during World War II.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig and incidentally Lauenberg. Separate stamps were issued for Holstein (1850), Schleswig (1864-1867), Holstein (1864-1866), Schleswig-Holstein (1865) and Schleswig (1920).