LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin Memorabilia

Probably the rarest artefact ever offered on this site, being a genuine fully stamped and franked envelope which was carried on the around the world flight of the Graf Zeppelin in 1929. This unique package also includes a later crew members blazer badge from the Third Reich period.
The American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst's media empire paid half the cost of the project to fly Graf Zeppelin around the world,with four staff on the flight; Drummond-Hay, Karl von Wiegand, the Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins, and the cameraman Robert Hartmann. Drummond-Hay became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.

Hearst stipulated that the flight in August 1929 officially start and finish at Lakehurst USA. Round-the-world tickets were sold for almost $3000 (equivalent to $45,000 in 2020), but most participants had their costs paid for them. The flight's expenses were offset by the carriage of souvenir mail between Lakehurst, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A US franked letter flown on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst required $3.55 (equivalent to $54 in 2020) in postage.

Graf Zeppelin set off from Lakehurst on 8 August, heading eastwards.The ship refuelled at Friedrichshafen, then continued across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Tokyo. After five days at a former German airship shed that had been removed from Jüterbog and rebuilt at Kasumigaura Naval Air Station,Graf Zeppelin continued across the Pacific to California. Eckener delayed crossing the coast at San Francisco's Golden Gate so as to come in near sunset for aesthetic effect.The ship landed at Mines Field in Los Angeles, completing the first ever nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean. The takeoff from Los Angeles was difficult because of high temperatures and an inversion layer. To lighten the ship, six crew were sent on to Lakehurst by aeroplane.The airship suffered minor damage from a tail strike and barely cleared electricity cables at the edge of the field. The Graf Zeppelin arrived back at Lakehurst from the west on the morning of 29 August, three weeks after it had departed to the east.

Flying time for the four Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days, 12 hours, and 13 minutes; the entire circumnavigation (including stops) took 21 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes to cover 33,234 km (20,651 mi; 17,945 nmi). It was the fastest circumnavigation of the globe to date.

Envelope is stamped and franked and addressed to a paper manufacturer in Germany. (Interesting to note that the owners of this company fled Germany in 1939 to escape the Nazi takeover!) It has some foxing and tearing at the edges but is still in superb condition.
The blazer badge is in "Bevo" style and in perfect condition.
For the advanced collector here is an opportunity to own what is probably the only envelope of its type left in the world-living history just does not get any better!

Code: 52852