Peterborough Auctions LLC
Live Auction

Fine Art and Antiques

Sun, Sep 22, 2024 01:00PM EDT
Lot 366

Vintage Painting on Wood Board, The Wreck of LZ 59, WW1, Signed Illegibly

Estimate: $200 - $300

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$200 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$30,000 $2,500
$50,000 $5,000

Oil on wood board, signed lower right. Titled in pencil in French on the back, with separate (inaccurate) translation/attribution in English also in pencil, added later.
Likely painted from the Norwegian press photo of Oscar S. Olsen, 7” x 9 1/2”, framed to 10” x 12 1/2”.

Depicting the botched crash landing of Zeppelin LZ 59 (L20) at Gandsfjorden, Norway, May, 1916. This Q-Class airship was 585’ long and 61’ in diameter, records for the time when it was completed in late 1915. With four Maybach engines, it had a ranged of 3000 miles at an altitude of 10,000’. As such, it was quickly employed in the German war effort against the United Kingdom, for both reconnaissance and bombing. In January 1916, LZ 59 conducted a multistage bombing mission against Britain, with targets across the Midlands, earning the nickname “Raider of Loughborough” after one of the towns it firebombed. LZ 59’s second bombing mission took place on May 2-3, with industrial targets across the northeast of England, as well as warships in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. On the way back to base in Tønder, the airship encountered harsh winds pushing it toward neutral Norway, where Commander Stabbert attempted an emergency landing on a calm fjord; several of the crew were able to jump ship, but this and a gust of wind caused the zeppelin to take to the air again briefly before its anchor caught a rock causing one of the gondolas to detach and fall along with three crew members to their death. The rest of the crew was rescued and interned, meanwhile the wreckage was a local spectacle for several days before the Norwegian military, fearful of the ship causing further damage, fired on the wreckage causing a massive hydrogen explosion.

Condition

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