Fire & Ice: Zeppelins, Aerophilately and the Titanic #643

United States, Hindenburg, 1937 (3 May), 1st North America Flight, resulting in the infamous crash. A well preserved large portion of a cover that was recovered and so designated in "LZ-129 HINDENBURG, ZEPPELIN CRASH MAIL" book by Leder, in its clean up of the crash site and wreckage, forwarded by NY Post Office and complete glassine envelope and official seals, one of which is tied and signed Schaeffer. Cover addressed to well known aerophilatelist Mr. Rudolph Dinnebier of New York City, stamps fallen off, partial strikes of Type II (36.5 mm) flight cachet, charred around three sides. The crash and burning of the "Hindenburg" was horrendous, certainly with the loss of life and injury, but also with the total extent of the destruction of the Zeppelin and its contents in a matter of minutes. Records show that there were well over 17,000 pieces of mail on board the air ship at the time of the crash. Yet, only 368 pieces of mail of all types were recovered. Only 185 pieces of outbound mail destined to be delivered at Lakehurst were recovered by the U.S. Postal inspectors or the Zeppelin Company in their selvage efforts. The outstanding crash cover offered here is not only exceptional in its completeness and attractive appearance. A wonderful and great "Hindenburg" rarity, Very Fine.
Michel 63d; €20,000 ($26,800). Sieger 454.
Estimate $7,500 - 10,000

The German Zeppelin Hindenburg made sixty-three flights, including ten round trips to the United States in 1936. It met tragedy May 6, 1937. Attempting to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey, the giant airship burst into flames near the mooring mast. In only thirty-two seconds, the Zeppelin was smoldering wreckage. Amazingly, nearly two-thirds of the passengers and crew survived (thirty-five people on board died plus one member of the ground crew; sixty-two survived). The Zeppelin was 803’10" long, almost three football fields end-to-end. The cause of the disaster has never been determined. However, the prevailing theory is that a discharge of electricity from the storm that evening ignited some leaking hydrogen. Sabotage has been ruled out as a possibility due to lacking evidence of any kind .