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The world's biggest collection of airship memorabilia goes on sale
Some Zeppelin news now, featuring the largest selection of airship memorabilia valued at potentially £1,000,000 and which is due to be sold off in four auctions over the coming eight months.
Rare Zeppelin items for auction for the first time
The result of 40 years of collecting by a Jersey businessman who had intended to set up an airship museum but who through a combination of old age and other business commitments never managed to, the collection contains many hundreds of photographs, some of which are reproduced here.
These pictures (and the above footage from Youtube, which I make no apology for including every time I blog about airships) give a fantastic idea of the sheer majestic size of the Zeppelins and the wonderful sense of occasion they would have provided. Not only in seeing them at ground level, from within, in flight and - sadly - at war but also the views they provided to the lucky passengers privileged enough to fly in them. Never was the advantage of all-round vision as afforded by a gondola more perfectly illustrated than in a number of these photos.
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Comprised quite literally of tons of Zeppelin-related artefacts the collection would have made a wonderful museum, all the more so considering the seller had even bought one of the massive hangars at Cardington Aerodrome in Bedfordshire (home of the British airship industry and the ill-fated R.101) to store it all in and in which he had intended to base his extensive display. What a gem it would have been - a real counterpart to the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Sadly it was not to be and now this incredible collection is about to be broken up. At least the profits will be given to charity, which is a good thing. One can only hope that the pieces find their way to the Zeppelin Museum or to collectors who will equally appreciate it and, who knows, maybe even use it to help open up a British airship museum in the future.
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| One of the Cardington airship hangers |
Stunning! Those photographs are beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this post!
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ReplyDeleteHow very strange that only the other day we were in conversation with friends about Zeppelins and airships in general. And now this. It does seem such a pity that the dream of a museum for this collection will not now, or so it would seem, ever be realised.
That is a serious collector, you have to admire dedication like that! Would be nice to think that this could stay together, X
ReplyDeleteVery super post! That fellow must have been a super person to know and speak with. I was always fascinated by the Zeppelin and as close as I or anyone since the early 40s has gotten is to watch the Goodyear and some of the other blimps which in and of themselves are wonderful aircraft. It must have been awe inspiring to watch a Zeppelin.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the hangars at Cardington! What an amazing collection, I hope at least some of it goes to one institution or collector so it can stay together.
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