Special Hindenburg LZ129 Lakehurst Crash Duraluminum & Silver Linen Double-Sided Relic Display

Hindenburg LZ129 Lakehurst Crash Duralumin Structure and silver dope outer envelope with heat & fire damage - Relic Display, by Ron Cole. 

Very rare duralumin (aluminum alloy) section from an internal structure cap from Zeppelin LZ129 Hindenburg crash site, paired with an extremely rare piece of outer envelope silvered linen (reflecting heat and fire damage from the May 6, 1937, crash) combined with Ron Cole's original composition of this airship at Lakehurst Naval Air Station - in this handmade 15x12-inch double-sided wall-hanging display. Limited edition - one of only 8. Signed & numbered.

The wreckage of the Hindenburg was mostly melted for scrap. Over 150,000 pounds of frame metal went to the National Bronze and Aluminum Foundry Co. in Cleveland, Ohio, whose contract forbade the use of the metal for "ash trays, book ends or any similar articles." Thus, authentic material, especially metal, will forever remain extremely rare and difficult to find. 

Each of these displays includes a carefully cut 1x1.5-inch section of this unique (and then secret) duralumin material, and an identically sized piece of multi-layered exterior envelope that bears evidence of its attachment to the internal duraluminum structure (the point of contact where it is likely a spark originated that started the fire on May 6 1937) as well as prominent burns to the linen and heat-induced bubbling on the silver dope.   

The duraluminum Hindenburg parts were recovered from the scene of the crash by Valentine Pasvolsky, who was the township engineer of nearby Lakewood, New Jersey. A Russian immigrant and veteran of both World Wars, he personally drove crash victims to the hospital, making several trips. His grandson, from whom these parts were acquired, remembers his grandfather retelling the story, and bringing these parts out of a box to show him. Valentine passed away in 1980. His grandson rediscovered the parts only in 2020, and provided a letter of provenance, as well as several newspaper articles about his grandfather, with this collection. 

The fire-damaged linen and a small piece of duraluminum, along with a marked envelope and several newspaper clippings from the days after the crash were collected by S.T. Witmer of Hanover, Pennsylvania. Since little is known about Mr. Witmer and his connection to the crash site, the pieces themselves have been carefully studied and compared to several other positively identified pieces of linen from the crash of LZ 129, including the matching of the attachment points on the reverse of the linen to the attachment holes on a large section of Hindenburg girder with 100% provenance in our collection, as well as examination of the small duraluminum fragment in the Witmer Collection. All are 100% guaranteed to have been recovered from the Lakehurst crash site of the airship and originate from LZ 129. 

We have endeavored to price these pieces very reasonably, in keeping with the Cole's Aircraft goal of making history like this available to most everyone. A girder section from the Hindenburg was auctioned through Bonhams for $24,000.00, and tiny fragments of this airship often sell for over $1000.00. 

These will not last very long.   

STRICTLY NO DISCOUNT CODES, PLEASE