Michel Zeppelin- Und Flugpost-Spezial 2017/2018

I just received my copy of Michel's Zeppelin- und Flugpost-Spezial 2017/2018 (Zeppelin and Airmail Specialized Catalog), and I thought I'd share a mini-review.

This is the 3rd Edition of this catalog, and the first revision in 15 years. It's comes in at 582 pages.

The book itself is in Michel's standard format -- hardcover, about #8776;150x230mm (#8776;6x9"), with a couple bookmark ribbons.



Table of contents:



The first half of the book covers the Zeppelin Post. It lists the flights of German and American zeppelins, and includes a handy Michel-to-Sieger catalog number conversion chart.



The second half of the book covers German airmail.

The first section lists the Pionierflugpost, or airmail carried on "Pioneer" flights from 1909-1914.



Next, the catalog contains a section listing all the semi-official airmails. This section is essentially the same as that found in Michel's Germany Specialized catalog.

Next, the catalog lists all first flights within Germany.



Next, the catalog contains a list of airmail stamps. This section is basically the Germany Specialized catalog with all non-airmails removed. It includes not only Germany, but all related areas which would normally be found in Michel's Germany Specialized (Danzig, Memel, WWII Occupations, Feldpost, etc.).

Next, the catalog lists all postal stationery and private postal stationery with airmail postage or designs. As with the airmail stamp section, this is basically a condensed version of Michel's postal stationery catalogs.



Finally, the catalog has a series of sections containing airmail cancels:

Airfield cancels --



Airline cancels --



Military airbase cancels --



Airmail postmarks --



Luftwaffe postmarks --



Airmail confirmation marks --



Other confirmation marks --



Interrupted and cancelled flight markings --



Commemorative and Promotional Cancels --



Overall, I'm very pleased with the book. I had not previously owned Michel's German language Zeppelin catalog, and I'm impressed with its thoroughness. I do own the English language version of Michel's previous Zeppelin Post catalog, and the zeppelin portion of this catalog appears to be a much more thorough, updated listing (not to mention including hundreds of pages of airmail listings which were not in the English language Zeppelin catalog).

Thanks! Very nice synopsis and review.

Postmaster:

Did you notice any drastic movement in pricing for the Zeppelin covers?

Also, did you order directly from the Michel website?

Neeskens13,

I preordered directly from Michel. The catalog's release date was 8 September, so I'd assumed it would arrive in late September. But shockingly, it was in my mailbox when I got home on 8 September.

As to prices, I pulled the values of a few of mine from the 2003 English-language catalog and the new one. Values are in Euro (2003 / 2017):

LZ-127
1928 America Flight, MiNr 7 -- €50 / €50
1930 Russia Flight, MiNr 121 b -- €75 / €120
1930 Netherlands Flight, MiNr 150 a (renumbered 150 I a) -- €30 / €40
1930 Netherlands Flight, MiNr 150 c (renumbered 150 I c) -- €35 / €40
1931 Iceland Flight, MiNr 193 I a -- €50 /€100
1932 Netherlands Flight, MiNr 247 b -- €50 / €60
1932 Netherlands Flight, MiNr 248 I b -- €50 / €70
1933 7th South American Flight, MiNr 337 b -- €75 / €110

Looking across bits and pieces of the catalog, it appears as if the common variants saw small increases in line with a 15-year gap, but the rarer variants saw huge rises. For example, compare the MiNr 7 listings -- new variants, and massive rises in price for the rare drops.

Wow! I was told by a German Zeppelin dealer in Berlin with whom I do a lot of business that the folks who were involved in compiling this new edition were spending a lot of time on pricing -- with the goal being to get the catalog numbers more in line with the actual market.

In fact, he specifically told me that the popular flights -- e.g., 1930 South America, 1931 Polar and 1933 Century of Progress -- were so out of line with the current market that there would be drastic reductions.

Also, it is pretty likely that the Sieger catalog will never be updated again so this new Michel edition will be a very influential pricing barometer.

Neeskens,

I seem to recall you mentioning that in another thread. I went back and looked at those popular flights. All saw drops (10-50%) in the basic, most common listings -- especially the 1930 South American Flight, where there were 50% drops in most of the basic listings.

As with the example I gave earlier, there were many new additions to the listings, and the special listings (rarer incoming lines, etc.) still saw static or increased prices.

Thanks for the response. You are a great resource for all us who collect in the Germany area.

Received my copy today. Paid $94 from Amazon with free shipping. Can't wait to go through all of my covers to see what has changed.

I am also excited to see the expanded section on the Pioneer flights. The English-language edition did not have all the bells and whistles for these.

I am glad to see that the 1934 Deutschlandfahrt treaty mail cover from the Netherlands (which was unlisted in the prior edition) for which I paid $48 is now listed and valued at 850 Euros!

Anyone know where I can find a copy of the 2003 English edition?

Try sending an email to Burkhard Schneider at info @ philabooks dot com. I have used him in the past to find some Zeppelin resource material. He is always very helpful and a pleasure to deal with.

Thank you, I'll try that.

postmastergs

I appreciate your detailed review! I was considering a Siegel catalogue but now I'm probably going with the Michel version, thanks mainly to your excellent commentary.

-J

Reviving an old thread here. Just does anyone own the 2002 version and what is your review? Thanks

I have a 2002 German catalogue.

Pricewise a review is difficult.

I have read Postmaster GS post about the 2003 prices in the engelish version and the prices in the 2017 catalogue which are almost the same.

Here it comes. The prices quoted in the German 2002 version in German Mark, have become euros in the 2003 English version.

So 50 Dm becomes 50 euros within a year.

But it is still a good reference book for postmarks, dates, etc.

I am looking for the 2003 English, but it is incredibly difficult to find. If you have a link for any seller I really appreciate that.