| Airmail Flight Covers - Various |  Top |
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US$ | ||
401667 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
THOR SOLBERG 1935 FLIGHT COVER - NEW YORK to BERGEN, NORWAY: Even though this is a flight cover from New Your TO BERGEN, Lüning, in "The History of Airmail in Scandinavia" states that "most" of the covers carried by Solberg from New York to Bergen were NOT originally franked or canceled in the U.S., but instead were franked upon arrival in Bergen with a 7 øre stamp [1929 7 øre green Posthorn, Scott #79, Facit #105] which paid the printed matter rate back to the U.S. These "most" covers were printed with a blue and red cachet, picturing Solberg and his airplane, and have a handwritten "Thor Solberg" signature in green below the cachet. The address is normally typed (prepared before the flight) and bears handstamped serial numbering in blue-green at the upper left. Upon arrival in Norway, the covers were canceled with a special 16 August 1935 Bergen text-machine cancellation "THOR SOLBERGS / FLYVNING 1935 / U.S.A.-NORGE VIA / LEIV ERIKSSONS RUTE". The reference to the Leif Ericsson route is that the flight transited Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland, before reaching Bergen, Norway. [To flight cover collectors it may seem odd that this category of Solberg covers was not franked or canceled at the origin. My theory is that because a similar 1932 flight attempt by Solberg failed (no covers recorded), a decision was made to carry the 1935 covers in a way that they could be re-carried on a future flight if the 1935 flight were to fail, thus eventually the subscribed purchasers would receive a flown cover.] While this type of Solberg cover is not "rare", they have become hard to find. This represents an early and important stage in the development of Scandinavian trans-Atlantic airmail... and it is very attractive as well. As usual, there are no postal markings on the reverse; at this time, the U.S. did not normally apply receiving postmarks to printed matter mail. This example bears serial number 1605. ACTUAL item. |
90.00 |