Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc.

France Ballon Monte . Le “Washington” VF complete folded letter, Oct 10, 1870 cancel, sent to Domfront (Oct 18, 1870 backstamps), carried 300 kg of mail. The first new balloon to fly took a most dangerous trip for the aeronauts as they were fired upon immediately and continually. To maintain altitude while fierce winds buffeting them, they dumped ballast along with a sack of mail (later recovered). A bad landing did not help including one aeronaut that took a hard fall. (BM9 €400 Euros)