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Auction: SW1009B - The Collector's Series - Latin America
Lot: 1031

1920, 10c. "Plane at Rest; Pilot Foreground", ample balanced margins on First Flight cover, 22 February, from Cartagena to Barranquilla, cancelled by "CCNA/Cartagena" oval handstamp, showing manuscript dedication in French and signature by the pilot Captain René Bazin: "With great sympathy to Mr. Hernández in memory of the first airmail / 22-2-1920". The cover was additionally franked by 3c. of the National Postal Service tied by "Correo Aereo./Cartagena-Colombia." c.d.s. Some minor peripheral imperfections to cover and vignette with traces of red crayon, only mentioned for accuracy. The First Flight was succesfully completed by a Farman F.40 ("Cartagena") piloted by Capt. René Bazin. Two passengers, Mr. Guillermo Echevarría, Managing Director of the Compañía Colombiana de Navegación Aérea, and Mr. George Goupil, mechanic, accompanied the pilot on this historic flight which carried 4 kgs. of mail. The second scarcest vignette used on cover, with just 16 items known, five of which having been used in this flight; on the other hand, its greatest degree of rarity lies in the fact that this item is the only cover known bearing any vignette and displaying the signature of the pilot. An exhibition item of the utmost calibre, considered as one of the two most important covers of this issue and one of the gems of worldwide aerophilately. Scott C9.

Sold for
$9,000