SWITZERLAND 1929 4.40Fr TOTAL FRANKING ON REGISTERED AD ASTRA AFRIKAFLUG COVER TO KHARTOUM SUDAN
1929 (Dec. 15), commercial registered airmail cover from Zurich to Khartoum, Sudan, carried on the historic Ad Astra Aero Africa Flight. The face of the cover shown in 68A.jpg is franked with a 40c green and light green Airmail definitive (winged letter over mountains), cleanly tied by a black circular "ZÜRICH 1 / LUFTPOST" dater ['15.XII.29.-8 *']. The reverse shown in 68B.jpg carries the primary high-value franking consisting of a 1Fr purple Winged Figure definitive paired with a matching block of four of the 1Fr purple value, all cleanly tied by additional strikes of the Zurich air post dispatch cancel. The face displays a paper registration label reading "R Zürich 3 Hauptbahnh. No 657", a blue perforated trilingual "Mit Flugpost" airmail label, a purple typed route directive reading "Mit Afrikaflug bis Khartoum", an illustrated black event cachet reading "Ad Astra-Afrikaflug / Dezember 1929" showing a monoplane flying toward a roaring lion, and is type-addressed to Mons. Oscar Stahel c/o the Office of Thos Cook & Son Ltd in Khartoum, Africa. A crisp, black circular destination arrival backstamp reading "KHARTOUM" ['2 JAN 30'] is struck directly on the front. The envelope is fully intact and remains in excellent, fresh commercial condition.
This spectacular registered pioneer cover documents the historic December 1929 Ad Astra Aero trans-continental expedition to Africa piloted by legendary Swiss aviator Walter Mittelholzer. Specially organized to carry premium mail to destinations along the Nile, the cover accompanied Mittelholzer aboard his tri-motor Fokker F.VIIb/3m "Switzerland" as it departed Zurich on December 15, 1929. Following an ambitious flight vector across the Mediterranean and Egypt, the aircraft touched down at the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan terminal hub on January 2, 1930, where it received its immediate bilingual Khartoum arrival postmark. The massive 4.40Fr total franking—paid using a combination of the 40c air mail issue and an impressive block of four plus a single of the 1Fr high-value definitive—perfectly satisfies the steep multi-tier tariffs required for tracking, registration, and specialized trans-continental exploratory airmail carriage, representing an elite exhibition-class artifact from one of the golden milestones of global aviation history.
Please examine lot scan carefully and please send any questions at least 48 hours before the auction closes. Please note that cover condition usually includes normal wear and tear to cover edges, opening tears and some creases and wrinkles. Only exceptional or extreme condition issues will be mentioned.
Legend:
PS - Postal Stationery
FL - Folded Letter
SFL - Stampless Folded Letter
RPO - Railway Post Office
CDS - Circular Date Stamp
DPO - Dead Post Office
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