Sale 707 The Knapp Collection of Airmail Flights

Uruguay, 1931 (Aug 29-Sep 1), First South America, Recife - Friedrichshafen (Michel 217 var.), cover franked with 38c postage tied by Montevideo c.d.s.s with red Zeppelin cachet and Friedrichshafen backstamp; the cover is addressed to Reichenbach and redirected to Paris with backstamps of both those cities, Fine to Very Fine. A great Zeppelin Rarity—Sieger notes that five covers were carried; an accompanying article notes that the sender and addressee, Mr. Hermann Simon, claims that there were only three.
Sieger 126I; €1,500 ($1,600).
Estimate $750 - 1,000

The Montevideo postmarks are dated September 4 at 3:00 p.m., by which time the Airship would have already been 12 hours into her return Flight. The accompanying article from the Uruguay Philatelist, written by its editor, Herman Kerst, theorizes that, since all markings are genuine, the cover was probably mailed from Montevideo on September 1, the clerk having mistakenly read the "4" as a "1" when he set his canceller. The only other recorded cover is identical to this one (illustrations of both covers are included in the article).