Lz126 Zr-3 Very First Transatlantic Zeppelin Flight From Germany To USA - Oct 12-15 1924

I added a piece to my collection that I really like. Its was carried on LZ126 ZR3's transatlantic flight from Germany to the USA Oct 12-15th, 1924, under the command of Hugo Eckener. This was also the very first transatlantic zeppelin flight from Friedrichshafen Germany to Lakehurst NJ USA. The ZR-3 was turned over to the US upon arriving in Lakehurst, as war reparations, and became the US Navy airship 'Los Angeles'

I noticed something interesting about the cachet. Every piece I've seen using the same cachet has originated with the same person, George H Jaeger of Libau Latvia. It make me think he may have created the cachet or at least initiated its use. I'm not sure who the artwork itself is credited to.

However, in later years the same cachet imagery was altered to remove the ZR3 and used on covers for LZ127 Graf Zeppelin flights. Many of these are credited to A.C. Rosseler when you see them.

Does anyone happen to know anything of the history of the cachet or George H. Jaeger?

Also, I noticed its cancelled twice in Friedrichshafen, on Sept 15 and Oct 10.

George H. Jaeger was a well known stamp dealer in Liepaja, Latvia. I don't have anything in the way of a biography of him but have seen many pieces of mail to and from him over the years including this one which I'm guessing was put together by him or at his behest and mailed to him in care of a friend in Germany.

From the Frost Airship Mail Catalog (2005 Edition):

"George H. Jaeger, Editor of 'The Airpost Stamp', Libau, Latvia, prepared a large amount of covers for the America Flight. Friedrichshafen Post Office canceled this mail on September 15, 1924, but refused to board it. After heavy protests, Jaeger's mail was accepted and received an additional cancellation on Octboer 10, 1924. All covers and cards (about 2000) are addressed to one person in Brooklyn, NY. The red box cachet is a private mark, which was applied after delivery. Jaeger's covers without this cachet are an exception."

The Frost catalog quotes a value for one Jaeger's covers of $120. A Jaeger cover without the red box cachet (like yours) has a catalog value of $300.

John - Thanks for the info on George H. Jaeger. Love that piece with the triangular stamps.

Neeskens13 - Wow, that's some great info. I love that it explains the two cancels. Thank you very much for sharing.

I had no idea about the red box cachet or the significance of it being missing. That's pretty cool.

I looked online for an example of one with a red box cachet to see what it looks like. Here's what I found online.





http://arago.si.edu/record_170864_img_2.html br / br /

The cover itself, as a flight cover flown on the 1924 delivery flight of the ZR-3 to the USA, is a relatively common one in that there were about 18,000 letters and cards reported to have been flown on it. These sell regularly on Ebay in the range of about $30 to $40 in nice condition. A small number of letters and cards were posted at Danzig and those are rare and high value, and another small number were dropped at the Azores and did not make the full transatlantic voyage and those are also rare and high priced. Regular Friedrichshafen to New York covers are the common ones. There were a variety of unofficial cachets made by various stamp dealers such as this one. The official flight cachet that was applied by the German post office is the oval one with the words "Mit Luftschiff Z.R. 3 befordert". I do not know the relative values that specialist collectors might attach to specific unofficial and privately applied cachets.

If you are interested in flight covers of any kind, including Zeppelins, I recommend that you join the American Airmail Society where there are many experts who share your interest and where there is an enormous amount of information available that make collecting them more interesting and fun. You can join at: http://www.americanairmailsociety.org/

Thanks for the info Kimo. I'll look into the American Airmail Society.