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Everyone likes Zepps!

STLNATSSTLNATS Posts: 1,597 ✭✭✭
I posted this over at the World Coin forum, prompted in part by a thread covering some early zepp medals. While numismatics are my primary interest, I've casually collected zepp covers for a while and thought I'd share it here too with the hope someone else might start another thread about some of their favorite covers. C'mon, somebody (or better yet somebodies!) else start a thread or two to share some of their favorite covers to liven up this forum a little!

I liked the recent thread of the early Graf Zeppelin medals and thought I'd share a few medals associated with the 1929 World Flight of the Graf Zeppelin. The first two are from the Prussian mint. The silver is crown sized, 36mm, and in 90% silver. The busts on the obverse are Zeppelin, Duerr (airship designer) and Eckener (manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years and commander of the airship). The reverse features a globe including the key stops for the flight with arrival and departure date. There are two sets of dates for Lakehurst, since the flight technically started there with the return flight of the Zeppelin's 1929 1st North American Flight. The first 1929 North American flight had been scheduled for May, but was delayed after an emergency landing and was rescheduled immediately before the start of the World Flight.

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The gold piece is about the size of a 20 mark coin, I think I've seen this in the larger crown size as well. It has the portraits of Zeppelin and Eckener on the obverse and the dates 1898-1928, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the assembly of the first Zeppelin in 1898. The reverse has a scene of the airship flying over the ocean with the legend “WeltFahrt August 1929” and L Z 129 the airship’s registration number.

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The third medal is also 36 mm but was struck at the Bavarian mint. The obverse again features Captain Eckener. The reverse shows a Zeppelin flying over a globe with the key stops listed along the outside of the medal. With the arrows it show the flight starting in Friedrichshafen (where the German Zepps were based) flying to Tokyo, LA and Lakehurst before returning to its base.

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Medals are only one category of a wide range of collectibles associated with Zeppelins. Of course there are the 3 and 5 mark coins, but perhaps most popular are flight covers with appropriate cachets, stamps and cancellations. Here are two examples. The first is a German cover which made the full flight from Friedrichshafen and franked with 14 marks, a substantial amount of money at the time. The other is a cover which originated in LA and addressed to Lakehurst.

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Zeppies are fun!

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Always interested in St Louis MO & IL metro area and Evansville IN national bank notes and Vatican/papal states coins and medals!

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