C13-C15 Graf Zeppelin US Airmail Set, MH 1930

Set of three 1930 US Graf Zeppelin Airmails. 65c is lightly hinged, $1.30 has double hinge mark, horizontal gum bend, $2.65 also has double hinge mark.

The 1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps were a set of three airmail postage stamps, each depicting the image of the Graf Zeppelin airship, exclusively issued by the United States Post Office Department, USPOD, in 1930 for delivery of mail carried aboard that airship. Although the stamps were valid for postage shipped via the Zeppelin Pan American flight from Germany to the United States, via Brazil, the set was marketed to collectors and was largely intended to promote the route. 93.5% of the revenue generated by the sale of these stamps went to the Zeppelin Airship Works in Germany. The stamps were also issued as a gesture of good will toward Germany. The three stamps were used briefly and then withdrawn from sale where the remainder of the stock was destroyed by the Post Office. Due to the great depression and the high cost of the stamps most collectors and the general public could not afford to purchase or use them. Consequently, only about 227,000 of the stamps were sold, just 7% of the total made, making them relatively scarce and highly prized by collectors.