Page 38 - Delcampe Collections classiques EN-007

Stamps

A zeppelin story

Among the classics of German philately is a series of airmail stamps de-
picting a zeppelin contemplating the Earth below. This series, issued
between 1928 and 1933, deserves a closer look because there are quite a
few variants of note.

The historical context surrounding the 4M sepia. These show the Zeppelin airship
issue. flying above the planet.
This stamp was issued for the first time The next issue in 1930 featured the inscrip-
between the two world wars, just before tion «Südamerika-Fahrt» (South American
the global financial crisis of 1929. Journey) in the top left-hand corner of the
At the time, the zeppelin was the new mas- 2M ultramarine blue stamp.
ter of the skies. From 1928 to 1937, the The 1931 issue coincided with another
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin carried passengers, zeppelin expedition, this time to the Arc-
even circumnavigating the globe in 1929. tic. So instead of «Südamerika-Fahrt», the
In fact, it flew over Berlin much to the asto- overprint «Polar-Fahrt 1931» (Polar Jour-
nishment of the city’s inhabitants. ney) appeared on the 1M red, 2M ultrama-
What better way to show off our national rine blue and 4M sepia stamps.
pride than on German airmail stamps? Finally, the last issue in 1933 announced
This is how the first issue in 1928 came the arrival of the zeppelin in Chicago in the
about. same year. The «Chicagofahrt Weltauss-
It is made up of three different stamps: the tellung 1933» (Journey to the Chicago
1M red, the 2M ultramarine blue and the World Expo) overprint can be found on all

38 Delcampe Magazine