The Wreck & Crash
Mail Society
NEWS
There have been a number of fake/counterfeit
Hindenburg crash covers on the market recently. A recent one was listed
on eBay as shown below. It was pointed out to the seller that the cover is
a fake, for the following reasons. The burning/singing is across the
front and back of the cover, which is the same for most fakes. Genuine
covers are normally burned only around the edges, because the covers were tied
in bundles, and thus only the edges were burned. The cover is addressed
to Mrs. J.C. Dolan, 734 Kenesaw Terrace, Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Dolan was
a passenger onboard the ill-fated airship, and there is a genuine card he sent
to his wife, which is shown below. Notice that the address on the
fake cover is typed. Dolan normally hand wrote the addresses, and he used
cards--not envelopes. Also note the name Curtis Dolan in the upper left
corner of the fake cover. His name was actually Burtis Dolan, which the
forger wasn't aware of.
The fake cover is accompanied by an "expert certificate" from the
well known French aerophilatelist Frank Muller. However, it is my opinion
that Muller was fooled by this cover and did not have all the facts about it.
The fake cover did not sell.
Ken Sanford
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Genuine Hindenburg crash card prepared by Hindenburg passenger Bert G. Dolan to his wife. Dolan only sent cards and he hand wrote the address--the address on the fake cover is typed
Two
Hindenburg Crash Covers in Van Dieten (Holland) Auction
9 & 10 March
2009 - One Genuine and One Forgery
The
cover shown below is a genuine Hindenburg crash cover. This is cover number 16 on Hallvard
Slettebo’s website at: http://www.slettebo.no/scout/hindenburg.htm. It did not sell.
This
cover is a Kohl forgery according to the article "The Forgeries of the
Lakehurst Mail", by Dieter Leder & Siegfried G. Scheike, which was
published in the June 1998 issue of Air Mail News. It is item no. 4. It was withdrawn from the auction.
The
following cover sold on eBay for an incredible US$493.00 in January 2009.
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The
following is the description, exactly as it was on eBay. Covers with this
onion skin label have sold over the years, but none were from China, and most
sold for less than $100.00.
Ken Sanford
“World War II, WW2, Pan American Airways, PAA, Pan Am, BOAC, Trans-atlantic Clipper, Censor, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Postal History
Spectacular previously unrecorded Crash Cover from China to the USA........originally posted at Kunming, China on June 8, 1943.....the cover is addressed to Lakewood, Ohio USA......this cover came in a small missionary correspondence, all to the same family....the cover has a Crash Label - Salvaged Air Mail Cairo-Karachi dispatch No. 65....there are 2 D.L.O. handstamps on reverse from Bombay, India dated Aug 26, 1943......A knowledgeable friend of mine did some research on this cover, and he informed me that the crash was listed in the Henri L Nierinck book on Crash covers - as #430600....The note in Nierinck said ..."Letters are known posted at Ceylon and addressed to Great Britain. Nothing is known about an accident."...This is all the information I have about this item.....This should be an outstanding acquisition for the crash cover specialist. The cover did finally arrive at it's destination here in the USA, as it came with 7 or 8 other covers to the same family address......the cover was carried by CNAC - China National Aviation Corp from Chungking to connect with the BOAC Horseshoe route probably at Rangoon,Burma....from there through Karachi to Cairo and continuing on to West Africa ....to connect with Pan Am's FAM 18 or FAM 22 Trans-Atlantic Clipper service at Lagos, Nigeria, probably entering the USA at Miami, Florida. There is a white P.C. 90 Censor tape on the left side of the envelope, underneath the brown outer tape, with the words Opened By Examiner....visible when held to the light.........this has to be a RARE item of World War II airmail Postal History fitting into several collecting areas, Exhibit quality item .........Fine to Very Fine condition.”
The following cover sold on eBay in January for US$188.00, which
shows the strong market for crash & wreck covers to or from China and Hong
Kong.
The following is the description, exactly as it was on eBay:
“Cover from Hong Kong to Hoboken NJ, via St Paul Minn (FE 11),
damaged by fire in mail car in Columbus Wis. Faults, as expected.”
Webmaster -
Ken Sanford - 
revised 15 March 2009