Lot 278
 
North Atlantic Catapult mail collection, The balance of the Werner Helms international award-winning collection of approximately 500 cards and covers flown by catapult airplane between 1929 and 1935 from the SS Bremen or the SS Europa plus a small number flown by supplementary airmail from Cologne to Cherbourg. The collection includes many treaty (foreign) acceptances from both sides of the Atlantic with mail from Cuba, Australia and Canada going eastward and most European countries like Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Danzig and Great Britain going westward. Also the German and the U.S. material is highly specialized showing unusual rates, routes and markings with rare special reduced or commercially used multiple rates, combined air mail services to connect to or from the catapult service with the Zeppelin or the trans-continental airmail network, often showing incorrect usages of the catapult flight cachets on the wrong trip or in the wrong color. Many attractive frankings including a German "Ten-Year" souvenir sheet used on a seapost dispatch catapulted to New York, German or U.S. Zeppelin stamps used on catapult mail, invalid postage and non-permitted official postage, to mention only a few. In addition to the covers, the collection also features about 50 ephemera items like menus and stationery from the Bremen and the Europa, as well as picture postcards. This spectacular collection was built over decades and showcase the enormous knowledge and expertise accumulated over the years by Mr. Helms.
Estimate 40,000 - 60,000
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| Realized $32,500 |
