102278 | GERMANY & the ARCTIC CIRCLE. Polar Flight of the LZ 127 Silver Medal.

102278  |  GERMANY & the ARCTIC CIRCLE. Polar Flight of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin silver Medal. Issued 1931. Commemorating the northern voyage of the airship from 24 to 31 July (35mm, 18.52 g, 12h). By O. Oertel in Berlin.

 

Dr HUGO ECKENER LUFTSCHIFF-FÜHRER, bust of Eckener left // FAHRT I. D. ARKTIS 1931, airship flying right, with the place names of various place names referenced: North Pole, Arctic Ocean, Laptev Sea, New Siberian Islands, Siberia, Russla, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Barents Sea, Arkhangelsk, and Spitzberg (Svalbard). Edge: SILBER 990.

 

Hans Kaiser 576; Button 279; Joos a.697. PCGS SP-63. Subtle matte nature to the devices, with great brilliance in the fields, along with some alluring toning that deepens nearer the peripheries. A very rare and seldom encountered Zeppelin medal with a cartographic crossover appeal. Even when encountered, a type that is often seen with cleaning and/or other defects.

 

Zeppelin was a German general and aircraft manufacturer, who later founded the airship company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. Following Zeppelin's death in 1917, Dr. Hugo Eckener became the head of this company and oversaw post-war fundraising to expand upon its production, even serving as commander for the LZ 127 on numerous occasions. When this airship first entered use, it was the first commercial passenger transatlantic flight service in the world, eventually making 590 flights over nearly a decade. In 1940, she was scrapped for metal for the German efforts in World War II.

 

One of the airship's many monumental flights included a polar trip north in which the vessel, manned by Eckener, rendezvoused with the icebreaker steamship, Malygin, with which it exchanged souvenir mail. Along with this postal courier mission, it also fielded a multinational team of scientists who were able to map Franz Josef Land for the first time, measure Earth's magnetic field, and collect meteorological data.

 

Upload: 15 September 2023.