1935 (Oct 12th) Gibraltar, Registered Air Mail to Brazil via London by the 15th Graf Zeppelin to South America.

1935 (Oct 12^th) Gibraltar, Registered Air Mail to Brazil via London by the 15th Graf Zeppelin to South America.

Date posted	12 OC 35 (12 October 1935)
Postmark	Gibraltar Registered Oval, No.2
Endorsement	“Pour le dirigable Graf Zeppelin via / via Friedrichshafen (Allemagne) / via London/Overland”
Staging Cachets	Code a – Berlin Code c - Friedrichshafen
German Town Date Stamp	Berlin – Zentralflughafen (double circle date-stamp dated 16.10.35)
Registration label	Gibraltar Registration Label No. 1901 (Red)
Flight label	PAR GRAF ZEPPELIN (Blue)
Addressee	Se. Albert Thasler, Pernambuco, Brazil
Postage paid	1 shilling and 3 pence which is crossed off)
Receiver’s stamp	Pernambuco-5A Seccao-Manha (double circle date-stamp dated 27.X.35.

1933 (Oct 7th) Gibraltar, Registered to Argentina by Zeppelin

1933 (Oct 7th) Gibraltar, Registered to Argentina by Zeppelin

The Century of Progress Flight to 1933 Chicago World’s Fair

By late 1933, Graf Zeppelin had not been to the United States in over four years, since the Round-the-World flight of 1929.  When the Zeppelin Company was asked to fly the ship to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, officially dubbed the “Century of Progress International Exposition,” Eckener agreed on condition that the United States issue a special commemorative stamp and share the postal revenue with the Zeppelin Company.  After initial opposition by the United States Post Office (and President Franklin Roosevelt’s initial rejection of the idea of a fourth zeppelin stamp), the Post Office eventually agreed to issue the stamp, and so at the end of Graf Zeppelin’s last flight to South America in October, 1933, instead of returning directly to Germany from Brazil, Graf Zeppelin flew to the United States for stops in Miami, Akron, and Chicago.

While Graf Zeppelin’s appearance was one of the highlights of the Chicago Fair, the swastika-emblazoned ship, which was viewed as a symbol of the new government in Berlin, triggered strong political responses from both supporters and opponents of Hitler’s regime, especially among German-Americans.  The political controversy muted the enthusiasm that Americans had previously displayed toward the German ship during its earlier visits, and when Eckener took Graf Zeppelin on a aerial circuit around Chicago to show his ship to the residents of the city, he was careful to to fly a clockwise pattern so that Chicagoans would see only the tricolour German flag on the starboard fin, and not the swastika flag painted on the port fin under the new regulations issued by the German Air Ministry.

1933 Gibraltar to Brazil by Zeppelin

1933 Gibraltar to Brazil by Zeppelin

The Zeppelin Airships did not visit Gibraltar at any time. It went from Gibraltar to London by Air. Then probably by train  to Berlin and then to Friedrichshafen. It went on the 3rd South American flight.

The Air Ship:

The airship used on the South American flights in 1933, was the D-LZ 127. It was named ‘Graf Zeppelin’ by the Countess Brandenstein-Zeppelin, the only daughter of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, on 8th July 1928 (the Count’s 90th birthday). It first flew on 18th September 1928 and scrapped in May 1940.

G.B. joined the Zeppelin Air Mail Service to South America in March 1932.  Zeppelin mail from G.B. , Ireland and other British Territories (including Gibraltar), was collected in London and forwarded to Berlin, from where it was transported by special connecting plane to Friedrichshafen, where it was loaded onboard the Graf Zeppelin for its journey to Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, South America.  

In 1933 there was no direct airmail service between Gibraltar and London.

Mail Route – Gibraltar to London: 

Gibraltar mail to Great Britain was sent in ‘Closed Mail’ (sealed) bags, which were not opened until they reached London. They were handled as ‘Intact Bags,’ handed over to the Spanish Post Office at the border town of La Linea. From here they travelled overland to the railhead at Algeciras, thence onto Madrid and Paris. Surface mail from Paris was transported to London via the Channel port of Calais (usually), but also via Boulogne.

1933 Gibraltar to London (via Tangier, Alicante, Barcelona and Perpignan.) Air Crash Mail.

1933 Gibraltar to London (via Tangier, Alicante, Barcelona and Perpignan.)  

Air Crash Mail.

9th May 1933                  Latecoere 28-1 Plane F-AJIX operated by Aeropostale.

The plane was on the Casablanca to Toulouse route (via Tangier, Alicante, Barcelona and Perpignan.)  and left the aero field of Barcelona at 2.30 pm for Perpignan. A short time after take off the radio operator signalled that they were climbing up above the clouds for better visibility and requested a weather forecast. No further contact was established after 2.30 pm. At an altitude of 1700 metres the plane struck a house in the village of Villadrau near Villa Grande. The three crew and three passengers were killed but nobody on the ground was injured. The house was empty at the time of the crash. 

Crew: Jacques Emler, pilot, René Riguelle, pilot, Alfred Guychard, radio navigator.

A violet cachet was applied to the mail.

A similar plane to the one that crashed.

Gibraltar 7th Issue KE VII 1904-8

Gibraltar 7^th Issue KE VII  1904-8

Soon after the turn of the century the Crown Agents were perturbed at the number of forgeries being introduced to defraud the Treasury and Colonial Governments. To counter this, two steps were introduced.

Firstly the Crown CA watermark was considered insufficient safeguard against forgery, so a multiple watermark was designed which would cover a bigger area of the stamp.

Secondly, cases had occurred of the cancellation on stamps being removed, and the stamps being re-used as mint. To counter this, an experimental chalk surfaced paper was introduced which made the ‘cleaning’ of stamps impossible owing to the fugitive nature of the surface.

Gibraltar was one of the countries selected to try out this experimental paper.

However, these changes were carried out in two stages; the first incorporating the new watermark, but not the experimental paper, and was introduced as follows:-

½d 1st June 1904 1s 13th October 1905

1d 10th October 1904 2s 2nd February 1905

2d 9th January 1905 4s June 1908

6d 19th April 1906 £1 March 1908

The original 8s was not replaced, but remained on issue until November 1910, when it was superseded by that issued for the Colonial standardisation.

Gibraltar 6th Issue KE VII 1903

Gibraltar Stamps: King Edward VII 1903

During may 1903 a new design of Gibraltar stamps was issued and placed on sale in the Post Office of Gibraltar. They bore the head of the new sovereign, H.M. King Edward VII. All the issues was watermarked with the Single Crown C.A., and perf. 14, and all the values were printed from Plate 1 only.

The ½d to 1s. were printed in sheets of 120 in two panes of 60; the other values in sheets of 60 in six row of ten. The higher values are considered from an artistic point of view as the most handsome of all the then new King's Head issues. Their colours too are worthy of the highest praise as being a step forward freshness and harmony.

Only one printing was made of these stamps on Single Crown C.A. paper and so they are scarce. Each value was replaced as the stock in hand was exhausted, by the series on Multiple Crown C.A. paper in the same colours, with the exception of the 8s. which lasted until the appearance of the Universal Colours Series. It was therefore never printed in these, its original colours, on Multiple Crown C.A. paper. The 4d. value was omitted from these Edwardian issues as being found unnecessary. 

The subsequent changes in the watermark and colours of these designs make the issues scarce.

1897 Gibraltar to Manchester 20c & 10c bisected

1897 Gibraltar to Manchester 20c & 10c bisected

1889-96 Spanish Currency 10c. carmine, bisected and used on 1897 (Dec. 14^th) envelope with 20c. just tied by ‘GIBRALTAR’ c.d.s., with handstruck ‘T’ and '’1d/F.B./C.’ due marks, scarce.

Cancelled in Gibraltar, on December 14^th 1897, and was rejected as valid and a 1d Postage Due charge was levied. However, if you look closely at the enlargement the cancel just touches the bisect, which does tie it to the cover!