Sieger Experts In The House?

Thanks for pointing that out. I kind of like that it has a Hindenburg ('namesake') stamp as well. I recently purchased a 'last flight' (Koln drop) zep card which was posted with mainly Hindenburg ('namesake') stamps, and somehow it just seemed very fitting to represent the airship on its last mail drop.

I received this cover, which I really like, and I wanted to post some better images of it and I am curious about some of the other markings on the piece.

I like the cover as it was posted onboard the Hindenburg after its first visit to the US, during the return flight to Germany. The letter was addressed to a Mr. M. Lippmann in Lugano Switzerland. On the back, there is what appears to be an ink stamp that says 'Libreria Lippmann, Lugano'.

Can anyone decipher the stamp? Does 'libreria' mean 'library'? Is it a cancel without a date? Or what would you make of the ink stamp?

Also, on the back, in the bottom right corner there is some very tiny, tiny print. Any ideas? Probably added after by a collector to mark ownership? Or maybe the ink stamp cachet maker?

"Libreria" is the Italian word for library. It is Mr. Lippmann's personal stamp to indicate his ownership of the cover.

The mark on the back in the lower right-hand corner is most likely an expertizer's mark.

"Libreria" can also mean bookshop.

Thanks Neeskens. When I looked for Lugano Switzerland on the map, its no surprise that its actually fairly close to the Italian border, which explain the use of the Italian word 'libreria'. I'd like to learn more about Mr. M. Lippmann as I noticed his name (or perhaps a relatives) seems to pop up prominently in Google search, related to businesses in Switzerland. EDIT: Or maybe not... I'm not getting the same Google hits I was getting yesterday.

Also, interesting that Lugano is on a lake, similar to Friedrickshafen (zep base) & Bodensee (Lake Constance) - also near the Swiss border.


""Libreria" can also mean bookshop." - KGB

Ah! That's even more probable.

The black Liberia marking on the back is most likely for Mr. Lipmann's bookstore where he likely also sold stamps and covers such as this Zeppelin cover. Also, a quick google of liberia lippmann shows that he also published and sold local city guide books for tourists coming to Lugano. As for the tiny words at the bottom right of the back I am not sure that there would have been any need to expertize such a common cover as this one at any time but rather it is more likely simply an owner's marking.

I agree with Kimo about the cover not being worth enough to probably have 'expertized', at least not in modern times. However, relative to other more common 1st NAF covers its a bit less common. Its a Sieger 407c.

Also, this brings up another issue for me. We know about the Julius Bock fakes now, but when were these fakes first brought to light? Does anyone have the details of that story? It makes me wonder if collectors back in the late 1930's and early years after the Hindenburg accident might not have sought to 'expertize' their covers. They wouldn't have had easy access to the wealth of knowledge that was available to us today, to know which covers were more or less common, etc.

Good question. Bock`s mistakes were too glaring to have been unnoticed for very long.

It is the fakes that were made by guys who had a tiny bit of intelligence that are the problem. Bock made an obvious error. There are others out there where the makers made obvious errors including Roessler and others. However, it would be very difficult to tell about ones where the maker actually paid attention to the details and made up accurate rubber cachets and canceling devices and used correct unused postage and old blank covers and an old typewriter or an old fountain pen with old style ink and then baked them in a low temperature oven to age them and such. Makers from back during the time would not have had to do any aging at all and their forgeries would have all of the correct natural age to them today.