Greek Commercial Mail to South America

[alexiosp]

Talltrees,
Your information seems to be correct.
Sieger #214 (225 euros for Greek acceptance).
Best regards.

[alexiosp]

A new addition to the short list of recorded COMMERCIAL Greek Zeppelin covers to South America, this time from the 1933 5th SAF.

Rate: 8 Dr foreign surface rate (per 20gr)
140 Dr airmail surcharge (2x70 Dr per 5gr, a 6-10gr letter)

The earliest reported commercial Zeppelin mail from Greece and the highest franking so far.

The search goes on...

[Zeppelin]

Hello Alexios,

I am sure you are the only one who knows where this commercial cover was dispatched. At least I can not read the city of dispatch....

But anyhow, what I can read is that the cover reached Athens on August 17, 1933 at 7 pm and that the cover reached Berlin C2 (= Berlin Tempelhof airfield) the next day (August 18, 1933) between 9 and 10 pm. And this tells me that the cover was flown by Lufthansa from Athens to Berlin. This Lufthansa flight went on the Athens-Berlin route twice a week, only Fridays and Sundays. Departure at Athens was 7.20 am, the flight went via Saloniki, Sofia, Belgrad, Budapest and Vienna to Berlin. Scheduled arrival at Berlin was at 8 pm. And August 18, 1933 was of course a Friday, so Lufthansa was flying on this day.
The next day (Saturday August 19, 1933) the cover went on the Berlin-Friedrichshafen conencting flight and from there by zeppelin to Recife wih Condor connection to Rio.

Nice and spectacular cover!!!!

[alexiosp]

Sorry Dieter, I should have mentioned that the cover was posted in Piraeus, the same place where your 1934 6th SAF originated.
Many thanks for the connection flight details, always great to read your authoritative comments!
Could you point out a book with information on DLH flights from / to Greece

[alexiosp]

1934 'Weihnachtsfahrt' from Greece, single rate 8D surface + 70D air (per 5 gms), from Athens to Buenos Aires readdressed to London.
A lovely non-philatelic Greek dispatch!
(N.Zafirakopoulos collection, Greece)

[Zeppelin]

11th South America Flight 1934
Looks quite commercial....
8 Dr surface + 70 Dr. zeppelin surcharge

[alexiosp]

Zeppelin,
You keep surprising me with your elusive finds!
Commercial indeed, and to a most unusual destination (for Greek origin mail...)
Please, oh please, find me one posted from Thessaloniki
Thanks for posting this.
Alexios

[alexiosp]

I spotted in an old auction catalogue of a Greek auctioneer, a truly commercial example of the 10th SAF 1934, paying the usual 8D surface, 8D registration fee, 70D Air surcharge up to 5g. I do not know how much it feched but one can only lough at the starting price...