Lot 41
Newfoundland 1919 Hawker cover





The Hay Morgan Collection of KGV : Part 1 | S24020
Auction: 30 October 2024 at 10:30 GMT
£6,240
Description
1919 (APR 12) flown cover from St. Johns to London, endorsed ‘By Aeroplane’ and franked by 1919 3c brown 'Hawker' with type 69 'FIRST TRANS-ATLANTIC AIR POST, April 1919' opt, tied by machine cancel, flown on the first attempt at the Daily Mail prize by Harry Hawker and Lt-Com MacKenzie Grieve in their Sopwith 'Atlantic'. Typical signs of sea water immersion with ‘FOUND OPEN (OR TORN) AND OFFICIALLY SECURED’ labels on reverse, cancelled by London cds (30 MY), still a really fine example of this classic Airmail rarity. Ex Cooper (Spink 11 Apr 2012, lot 501) with BPA cert (2012). SG 142
Footnote
The flight departed on 18 May but had to ditch in the sea west of the Azores the next morning. The pilots were swiftly rescued by the Danish ship 'Mary', but the plane (with the mail) remained floating in the sea until May 23, when it was salvaged by the American ship S.S. 'Lake Charlotteville', and subsequently landed at Falmouth on May 29, with the mail bag reaching the GPO in London the following day.





