I'm stoked! I've always wanted a real zeppelin cover. I've owned copies of C18, I have a number of flown covers from the US fleet, but lately I've been pining for a real flown Hindenburg cover. Soooo.... I was looking at this on the 'bay the other evening. My wife comes up behind me and asks, "What's that?" I explain what it is and that I've always wanted one of these." Now keep in mind I'm just window shopping. Her reply: "You don't spend much money on anything, so if you want it, get it."
Now is that a hall pass or what? I had been watching it all week, and it was bid up to a healthy number. I was anticipating it going for a lot more, so I put in a major bid in my snipe machine. Irony? Nobody else was sniping that day. So I got it one bid increment over the visible bid! Kewl!
I've paid and now I'm awaiting it's arrival. Did I mention that I'm stoked?
BF1902 - Great cover. You mentioned the Hindenburg, but this cover was flow on the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127). The Hindenburg was LZ-129 and about 28' longer than the Graf Zeppelin. The Hindenburg only lasted a bit over a year in service before exploding, but the Graf Zeppelin flew for 9 years and covered over one million miles. It was definitely a milestone of aviation history! Very nice cover to have!
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis 03 Apr 2015 08:47:11am
re: I've Got A Zeppelin!
Congratulations! And I'm SOOO jealous!!
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"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou"
"You mentioned the Hindenburg, but this cover was flow on the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127). The Hindenburg was LZ-129 and about 28' longer than the Graf Zeppelin. "
Thanks for the clarification Lars! I think the cover is even cooler with your history! I just love holding things in my hands that were actually there in a historic time!
"What is a snipe machine?"
I use an online service called esnipe.com. I put my bids in anytime I want and they are pretty consistent at putting the bids in six seconds prior to the close of auction. The user determines how close to make it, I've determined that any closer and Internet communications can make you miss the end of auction. And six seconds is close enough that someone sitting watching won't have time to react to the bid.
I use ezsniper.com. They usually place the bid with 4 seconds to go. Even Mr. Numbers isn't that fast! I'm not saying you can't manually snipe with one or two seconds left, but if you refresh every second to see if you are still high bidder you won't see that you are outbid until 3 seconds to go, then you have to decide what to bid, type it in and enter it. If you are actually sitting there watching it, why wouldn't you simply place your maximum bid with 3 or 4 seconds to go? Anyone likely to overbid for emotional reasons is not going to be able to react quickly enough to being outbid with 3 seconds to go.
There is logic behind not waiting too long, though. If I sniper $10.07, then Lisa snipes $10.75 one second later, it goes up to $10.57. Now if Michael snipes $10.95 one second after that, his bid isn't high enough to cover the next bid increment ($11.07). If Michael would have bid BEFORE Lisa, he would have won at $10.57 and Lisa's bid would have been rejected.
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
Wanted to share with everyone my registered Hindenburg cover from the first return flight, Lakehurst N.J. to Frankfurt.
The May 6-14, 1936 first flight to and from Lakehurst purposefully coincided with the Third International Philatelic Exhibition at Grand Central Palace, New York. Thus the cachet created by the Masonic Stamp Club of New York and the souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the exhibition.
Note the manuscript marking: By Zeppelin Lakehurst to Friedrichshafen. Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria. It is where Ferdinand von Zeppelin established his famous dirigible factory at the end of the 19th century.
That is a really neat cover Steve! I love all the stamps and markings on it. I tend to like covers that look like they provided the intended service and this one really has that character!
That is a GREAT cover! I love the D-LZ-129 marking on the reverse. D stands for Germany (Deutschland), L stands for Luftschiff (airship) and Z stands for Zeppelin (manufacturer). Airship #129 was the Hindenburg. Deutsches Luftschiff Zeppelin #129. VERY COOL!
So if the Graf Zeppelin was LZ-127 and the Hindenburg was LZ-129, what about all those numbers below that? There is a fascinating history of the use of airships by Germany in WWI. It was a very hazardous duty that pushed the envelope at the time, much like the U-boats pushed submarine technology in WWII. Many of the first 50 ships were used for bombing in WWI, if memory serves me correctly.
Zeppelin flown covers of ANY stripe are good, but this one is exceptionally cool!
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
The LZ-1 through LZ-130 are the “Sieger numbers†per the Zeppelin Post Katalog published by the Sieger-Verlag of Lorch/Wurttemberg. The Sieger catalog is invaluable not just as a philatelic reference to zeppelin mail, but also as a historic resource, since the catalog contains a comprehensive list of all flights by German commercial zeppelins from LZ-1 through LZ-130.
steve
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