Among the most desirable of polar philatelic items are those from the polar rendezvous of the Graf Zeppelin airship and the Russian Ice Breaker "Malyguin". The intent had originally been to rendezvous with the submarine Nautilus, which was then on a Trans-Polar expedition led by Sir Hubert Wilkins.
Between July 24 and July 31, 1931, the Graf Zeppelin was on an Arctic flight. The pilot was Count Von Eckner, Lincoln Ellsworth (another famous polar explorer in his own right) was the navigator and a Professor Somoilovich was an observer. They traveled some 8,000 miles with a flight time of 136 hours. On July 27 they had a mail exchange in their rendezvous, which took place at Hooker Island, located in the Franz Josef group of islands.
I find this a most fascinating polar cover! I had the pleasure of actually seeing it and holding it back in 1985, before it was sold by the then-owner, the late Gene Bassman, a stamp dealer in Joplin. I presume he got it from an estate sale of Mr. Lawhead, who lived in nearby Carthage. There has to be a 'story' as to how someone in Missouri scored not one, but two classics of polar postal history.
The cover was postmarked at Friedrichschafen, instead of Berlin, and also has some additional line markings on the rear that are uncommon. What makes this cover so valuable, of course, and a fact which both myself and Joe Lynch missed at first, is the German franking: the overprinted stamps for Polar Fahrt 1931. (Scott C-42) The 4m stamp alone was cataloguing $800 used, in 1985. I apologize for the lack of color and clarity, but this is all I had-just a scan of a photocopy, and I felt the value of disseminating the polar postal history information outweighed not presenting it.
My guess is that Lawhead had to be a collector, or someone sent him what would surely an unlikely souvenir for someone living in Missouri. Note that someone crossed out the wording for the original planned rendezvous- one with Sir Hubert Wilkins' submarine, the Nautilus, which also had known covers.
The markings on the back say "First INTOURIST expedition, 1931 Ice-Breaker Maligin" (sic)
Lawhead also scored this postcard with the 2m stamp, postmarked Berlin.
Close-up of the
Malyguin Cachet.
Barbara Rhodes has an especially good historical perspective on her page about the Zeppelin/Rendezvous. Go here to see it.
Go here to see a wonderful rendition of the rendezvous scene, attributed to an artist named Nick Walmsley. (Presumed to be in the public domain and no intent of infringement intended.)
Go to two examples of some Russian covers that exist, from the same polar rendezvous.
The link that was posted here was a link to a commercial site that had a 4m cover in auction a couple of years ago, and another one from the same dealer. These were in color and let you see some of the splendor of the original covers. The link is now dead, but if I am able to find the pictures I saved on disk, I will try to post them later.
Go here to see a cover with a picture of the Graf Zeppelin in her hangar, in Germany.
Click here to go to a page with DDR Polar Philatelists Commemorative Issue from 1981, for the 50th Anniversary of the Graf Zeppelin's Polar Flight.
Back to My Main Polar Philately Page
QSL.net/KGØYH page last updated 07-18-2002
