The Margrave's water landing

Marquis Francesco de Pinedo (1890-1933) was a famous Italian pilot. In February 1927, De Pinedo and his co-pilot Carlo del Prete started in Sardinia for their flight “Four Continents”. In May 1927, they were on the final leg of this flight from Newfoundland to Italy in their seaplane “Santa Maria II”. The government of Newfoundland asked De Pinedo to take a mailbag to Italy. He agreed – an overprint stamp was quickly issued. On the flight, however, there were engine problems and the plane had to make an emergency landing in the Atlantic. The pilots were rescued and the plane was towed to the Azores. After repairs, the flight could be continued and the journey finally ended on 1 June 1927 with the landing in the port of Ostia. Of the above stamp with the red overprint “Air Mail/DE PINEDO/1927” 300 pieces were issued, 230 of them were used for correspondence.

We are pleased to auction a stamp with this extremely rare stamp in our 55th auction – another highlight from our special airmail catalog.