Rare 1933 World's Fair Route Graf Zeppelin Stamped Envelope AP1358
Rare Graf Zeppelin US 50c Stamp, Postmarked, on Official Zeppelin Envelope WITH a mint US 65c Zeppelin Stamp. Both beautifully framed and displayed together on silk moiré backing. Two rare stamps, one canceled, one not. As far as we can tell the 65c stamp has never even been hinged.
Postmarked Miami, October 23rd 1933 and addressed to Mrs M J Dewey in Columbus Ohio. The next stop would have been Akron. The round-trip route would encompass Berlin, Rio, Miami, Akron, Chicago (and the World's Fair!) and back to Berlin. Plenty of time to write that postcard. Imagine the wow factor. Unbelievably glamorous, even to our present day eyes.
Frame measures 14" x 14 1/2"
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/graf-zeppelin-stamp-history
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin 127) was a German passenger-carrying, hydrogen-filled rigid airship that flew from 1928 to 1937. It offered the first commercial transatlantic passenger flight service. Named after the German airship pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a count (Graf) in the German nobility, it was conceived and operated by Dr Hugo Eckener, the chairman of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
Graf Zeppelin made 590 flights totaling almost 1.7 million kilometres (over 1 million miles). It was operated by a crew of 36, and could carry 24 passengers. It was the longest and largest airship in the world when it was built. It made the first circumnavigation of the world by airship, and the first nonstop crossing of the Pacific Ocean by air; its range was enhanced by its use of Blau gas as a fuel. It was built using funds raised by public subscription and from the German government, and its operating costs were offset by the sale of special postage stamps to collectors, the support of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and cargo and passenger receipts.
After several long flights between 1928 and 1932, including one to the Arctic, Graf Zeppelin provided a commercial passenger and mail service between Germany and Brazil for five years. When the Nazi Party came to power, they used it as a propaganda tool. It was withdrawn from service after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, and scrapped for military aircraft production in 1940.
