Sieger Experts In The House?

I guess I should really describe myself as a 'flight' topical collector, including aviation in general and space flight. My interests in terms of covers are broad. I've just really started getting interested in Zeppelin covers, among other things.

I have learned that Hermann E. Sieger was a well known stamp dealer and philatelic author, producing a well known catalog for Zeppelin covers which is still widely regarded even today.

Looking at Zeppelin covers online, I see that some covers have H.E. Seiger's name on them. Some are just notations that look like a Sieger catalog reference. Others seem as though they are addressed to H. E. Sieger (addressed to self?), and still others just stamped with H.E. Sieger which doesn't seem to be an addressee or a catalog reference (number missing).

Can someone explain the appearance of Sieger's name on these covers?

Addressee on front is someone else & there is a # associated with the name Sieger. Simple Sieger catalog reference?




Two appearances of the Sieger name on back. Addressed to some else on front, and no Sieger # with pink stamp... so not a catalog reference, so is pink Sieger stamp just a mark of ownership? Did Sieger own it and stamp it as such? Then later on someone wrote the pencil Sieger catalog reference that appears down below?




On the next two... I think the Luftschiff LZ129 cancels mean 'onboard cancel', but not necessarily that the passenger was actually 'on board', correct?


No Sieger #, but hand printed lightly in addressee spot. Was this Sieger sending the cover to himself?




Again, no Sieger #, but name typed as addressee? Again, Sieger sending it to himself?

You'll like this!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoll...amp_incident

EDIT: I should point out that this is likely the son of 'your' Sieger.

Yea, I'm aware of the Apollo 15 Sieger incident. Quite the dealer alright.

Also, can anyone recommend a good place to buy a Sieger Zeppelin Catalog, or know if there is an English edition?

Does anyone here have one, or familiar with them?

#1 (407), #2 (344 II), and #4 (407) have Sieger numbers written on them. I can't tell if they're correct without seeing both sides, but that's what they are.

It was probably very common for Sieger to have covers sent to him. He managed to amass enough info to write the catalog, after all!

The current version is 22d Edition, and they're only in German. They're a little more difficult to find these days, but you can sometimes find a copy available through Amazon. If you can navigate the German Amazon, there's actually a new copy available there right now for about €15.

Thanks PostmasterGS, for the info and the link. I did manage to navigate the German Amazon site to buy the catalog, so maybe there is hope for me navigating the catalog as well.

I think I'm hooked on Zeppelin covers now. In fact airships in general. This even got me thinking that my RC project might be building a flying Zeppelin model.

Btw... What does the #3 cover (March 29th cancel) show up as in the catalog? Back is blank apparently. March 29, 1936 was the tail end of a three day tour of Germany for the Hindenburg, before departing for its first South American flight.

Sieger 402 B, catalog value €40.

This was the same flight on which the LZ-127 and LZ-129 flew around Germany dropping these leaflets.

Thx!

Yes, those large round cancels that read LUFTSHIFF LZ 129 are "on board" cancels. There was a small room on the Zeppelin that served as a little post office where passengers could mail letters and cards while in flight. The thing, though, is that as you have guessed large dealers were good at having their way and were able to get large amounts of covers on the Zeppelins to receive the "on board" cancellations without actually having to be a passenger themselves. The 'on board' cancels are more desirable than cancels from the local city, but they are not as rare as they might otherwise be had the Zeppelin company not accepted large amounts of dealer produced covers and cards to be canceled this way. I think that the desirable on board canceled covers and cards are the ones that are clearly from a passenger on the Zeppelin who mailed it while it was in flight.

I've noticed as well that some covers have been rubber stamped with the German words for 'on board'... 'an bord' I believe. I've read that the 'an bord' rubber stamp generally means the person was on board as a passenger. Do you know if that's true? Or could dealers also have had that stamp placed on their covers when they weren't actually on board as well?

Personally, had I been a dealer in German back then... I would have flown with them anyways. :)

viking, I've never heard of 'am bord' meaning anything about passengers, though there is a good amount of literature that details the passengers on many of the early flights.

Sorry, it's actually 'an bord'. It can be part of the cancel, or part of the envelopes cachet, or a separate rubber stamp. There's a couple on ebay at the moment.

Here... hopefully it's not too small to see.

I've read that typically you could only get that particular stamp if you were a passenger on board, but I'm not convinced that is true necessarily. Just because I think stamp dealers would find a way.

I wonder if what you've read about passengers refers to the postcards that were sold on the Graf Zeppelin, and perhaps other craft. These had on them the text ""Gekauft an Bord des Luftschiff Graf Zeppelin." [Bought on board the...]

But its not just reading about the 'an bord' marking. I've seen examples of all three cases. I've seen two covers where the 'an bord' is stamped on its own with red ink. I've seen a few of the 'an bord' zeppelin cards you mentioned as well. Then there's the cancel with 'an bord' as pictured in my last post.

I'm just curious whether some or all of those markings could have been obtained without actually being on board.

Interestingly, I'm beginning to see a bit of a contradiction in the zeppelin mail collecting philosophy. Apparently on board postings are more desirable. Yet from what I'm seeing, the 'on board' are also the most contrived. The zeppelin mail that seems the least contrived is often posted at a city post office, then carried on the zeppelins. The dealers obvious preferred to send their more contrived letters/cards on the ship with instructions to post on board.

I'm also beginning to realize that I don't really care or mind. I like to have samples of each type. In fact, I'd even like to collect some fakes. You don't get more contrived than that I guess.