20 December 2012
Added three interesting covers to Recently Sold Interesting Covers
.
19 December 2012
Added an interesting USS New Orleans mission
emblem cover to ASTP.
17 December 2012
Added three ships (did not participate) to Mercury
8, the USS Barton, USS Bearss and USS Saratoga. Another USS Arlington cover from Apollo 11
brought a good price. See Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
15 December 2012
Major New Discovery! Two covers from the USS Jonas
Ingram from Gemini 6 have been discovered. While not postmarked, they are
cacheted and one is marked as from a crew member of the USS Jonas
Ingram while the other is cacheted and from the same crew member
.
12 December 2012
Added a nice GT-4 USS Chukawan Crew cover on
ship's stationary to Captain's
and Crew Covers
.
22 November 2012
A hard to find cover brought an
amazing price on eBay. See Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
17 November 2012
New postmark variety found for the USS Kankakee
from Gemini 3.
9 November 2012
Added a USS Albany cover
(commemorative only) to Apollo
10 thanks to Garry Bock.
4 November 2012
Added a striking printing error on a USS Intrepid cover to MA-7
thanks to Woody Witt. Added a Sokolsky cachet to
MA-8. Added an interesting USS Kearsarge cover with two postmarks to MA-8. Added Skylab FDI postcard
with an additional USS New
Orleans postmark to Skylab 4.
2 November 2012
Added a USS Essex cover with the
ship's
cachet to Apollo 7. Very unusual!
29 October 2012
Added a USS Wasp cover to Gemini 6
(Abort) which has a previously unrecorded maroon
ship's cachet thanks to Toni Rigo.
27 October 2012
Added a previously unrecorded USS Lake Champlain
with a machine cancel to Mercury 8.
11 October 2012
Added a great set of helicopter recovery covers from Apollo
12, Apollo 13, Apollo
14 and Apollo 15! Added a USS
Ticonderoga cover with a colourful cachet to Apollo 16.
10 October 2012
New discovery! A Beck B625 cover designated for the
USS Robert L. Wilson but postmarked aboard the USS Boxer! Notice it is again addressed to W. R. Skelley, Jr.
24 September 2012
Added a second USS Ticonderoga cover with Commander
in Chief Pacific corner card to Apollo 16 thanks to to Antoni Rigo. However this one came with a greetings card
from Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.
21 September 2012
Added a PRS cover signed by the pilot and crew
of the main recovery helicopter to Apollo 17. Added a USS
Guadalcanal cover with Great Britain stamps to Apollo 9 thanks to Antoni Rigo.
20 September 2012
Added a Newspaper article to Apollo 13 documenting
that only US Stamps should be used on Recovery ship covers and that collectors are limited to two covers
12 September 2012
Added a nice hand drawn USS Ticonderoga cachet
to Apollo 17. Added a USS Ticonderoga postcard
to Apollo 16. Added three Apollo covers to 'Recovery Cachets'.
Added rarely seen unpostmarked Captain's cover to Gemini
11.
5 September 2012
Added a signed PRS cover to Apollo 17. Added
a multicolour mission emblem PRS cover plus a greyscale mission emblem PRS cover to Apollo 16. Added
a late usage Gemini 4 Captain's cover.
27 August 2012
A Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain Beck Crew cover
sold on eBay for $63. Another Skelley cover!
23 August 2012
Added more stamps to 'Stamps, Minisheets and Other Items'. Although
not involved, added an interesting cover addressed
to the Commanding Officer of the USS Ingraham to Apollo 12.
22 August 2012
Gerard Zonneveld sent me scans of two mystery ASTP USS New Orleans covers; a Beck B998 and a KSC
ASTP cacheted cover both with Sept 2 1975 postmarks! Does anyone know the significance
of that date. So far I've been unable to discover any relationship to the ASTP mission. Neither has several other
experts I've consulted.
21 August 2012
Added two covers to ASTP thanks to Gerard Zonneveld.
11 August 2012
Added a second dual cachet USS Wasp cover to both Gemini
6 & Gemini 7. This possibly unique cover not only has a rare black navy Gemini 7 cachet plus a ship's
cachet but it also has a Dec 16 (Gemini 6A) postmark. Also added a new page on lighters.
10 August 2012
Added a USS Wasp cover with both Navy and ship's cachets
to Gemini 7. An interesting 'Official Business' cover from
the USS Wasp was added to Gemini 9. Added a postcard from the USS
Kearsarge to Mercury 8. All found on eBay.
9 August 2012
Added two covers to SpaceX including a 'Return to
Port' cover.
8 August 2012
More stamps added to 'Stamps, Minisheets and Other Items'.
2 August 2012
Added an interesting News Release from the Manned Spacecraft
Recovery Force to collectors regarding arrangements for Apollo 16 covers to be cacheted.
1 August 2012
Lots more stamps added to 'Stamps, Minisheets and Other Items'.
27 July 2012
Added an extremely rare, possibly unique, cover to Apollo 11; a USS
Hornet cover with both types of machine cancel thanks to Tom Steiner!
20 July 2012
Added an unusual Kunia cachet to ASTP. Added page for SpaceX missions.
3 July 2012
Added a previously unreported Navy cachet for the USS
Ozark for Apollo 11. Tom Steiner confirmed that the cachet is also available for the other Atlantic ship, the
USS New.
17 June 2012
Added a possibly rare (first one I've seen) USS Holder with
a black Navy cachet to Gemini 2. Also added a lot of ASTP covers, sold on eBay for $87, which included two
Beck missing colour covers! See Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
7 June 2012
Added a very interesting Ship's Commendation from
the Commanding Officer to the crew of the USS Lake Champlain for a job well done during Gemini 5
2 June 2012
Added a group of 6 covers from AS202 sold on eBay which included
a previously unknown USS James C Owens Beck Crew cover
thanks to Martin Schwebs Rasmussen.
1 June 2012
A Gemini 8 Beck B630 USS Leonard F. Mason sells for $49. See Recently
Sold Interesting Covers.
30 May 2012
Added a USS Wasp Beck Crew Cover with a machine cancel
to Gemini 6a.
28 May 2012
Added two Covers to Gemini 2 thanks to Tom Steiner. A USS
O'Hare with a maroon cachet and a USS Eugene A. Greene
with a purple cachet. These are the first I've seen in these colours.
27 May 2012
Added a USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Crew cover to Gemini
12,
22 May 2012
Added a couple of items to Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
16 May 2012
Added a second type of Orbit cachet to Gemini 12. Added
Artopage cachets to Apollo 8 and Apollo
9.
12 May 2012
Added an interesting USNS Rose Knot lighter. Added
several items to Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
10 May 2012
Added an orbit cachet to Gemini 6A. Added Artopage cachets
to Apollo 10 and Apollo
11.
30 April 2012
Added unusual cachets for Kunia (ASTP), USS
Hornet (Apollo 12) and USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (Gemini
6).
27 April 2012
Added to 'Captain and Crew Covers' an interesting letter
from the Executive Officer of Apollo 12 PRS stating that 3000 Captain's Covers had been printed. Added interesting
cachets to MA-8 and MA-9.
25 April 2012
Added what could be a one-of-a-kind Beck B998 cover
but postmarked in Greenbelt rather than San Francisco to 'Beck Error, Crew and Unusual Covers'. Also added B998
and B999 covers with missing colours. Added five GTA-8 covers with their blue textured background missing to Beck Error, Crew and Unusual Covers.
24 April 2012
Added a spectacular Beck error cover to Beck Error, Crew
and Unusual Covers. This cover has a Pacific Recovery Force cachet but is numbered B999 which is the number for
the Atlantic Recovery Force cachet! Also the number and border are black as per the Atlantic Force cachet rather
than blue as per the Pacific Force cachet.
22 April 2012
Added two more covers to "Who Is W R Skelley?" where his label has been placed over one for Sarzin
thanks to Woody Witt.
20 April 2012
There has been an amazing price paid for an Apollo
11 Captain's cover and associated letter on eBay. Despite the unique nature of the letter and who it was addressed
to, the final price of $567.55 was way
above expectations. There were 25 separate bids from 8 bidders. Of extra interest was a note at the bottom of the
letter stating that the USS Hassayampa had provided outstanding support.
18 April 2012
Three rare covers from the Solar Flash Spectrum Capsule Recovery mission were recently sold on eBay. The PRS
cover from the USS Guam sold for a good $41 while the USNS
Range Recoverer sold for $20.50. The real bargin was the USCGC
Alert which sold for only $6.50! Also included letters from the USS
Guam and USCGC Alert.
14 April 2012
Added an example of a USS Forest Royal cover from
MA-9. Also added a USS Harwood cover dated 16th to my article
on MA-9 postmarks. Both thanks to Tom Steiner.
13 April 2012
Found a new MA-9 USS De Haven postmark variation.
10 April 2012
Added some interesting eBay sales to Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
6 April 2012
A major variation in the USS New's postmark for Apollo
13 has been found by Tom Steiner. It is missing the DD!
1 April 2012
Thanks to the sharp eye of Tom Steiner added a USS MacKenzie
cover with a PM time slug to Gemini 6A. Also added to great Beck error covers (B589
with missing silver colour and B703 with missing green cover)
to Beck Error, Crew and Unusual Covers.
30 March 2012
A number of the popular Centennial Thermographed covers were offered on eBay over the last week or so and sold
for a wide range of prices up to $49. See Recently Sold Interesting Covers.
25 March 2012
Added a very rare cover cacheted for the practice recovery
of a boilerplate capsule in Galveston Baty in 1963! Added a particularly interesting Gemini
12 cover with a fake cachet & postmark on top of a genuine Gemini 12 cover with Navy Gemini 11 cachet.
Added an interesting USS Kearsarge cover with a hand
cancel for the recovery and a machine cancel for 4th November to Mercury 8.
23 March 2012
Added a great PRS cover to Apollo 15 signed by
the three astronauts, CTF-130 commander, the ship's commander and Executive Officer and the Recovery helicopter
pilot. It sold for $220 plus buyers premium in a recent RR auction.
21 March 2012
Added several items to 'Stamps, Minisheets and Other Items'.
20 March 2012
Another rare ASTP USS New Orleans cover (in a group
with 2 lesser covers) sold for $125 on eBay. Updated information on the role of the USS
Enterprise during MA-6.
14 March 2012
Added a signed PRS cover to Gemini 12. Added a hard to
find USS Putnam cover with a maroon cachet to Gemini 2.
13 March 2012
Added inportant new information to Mercury 6 that the USS Enterprise
was involved and 'acted as a tracking and measuring station for the epochal flight of Friendship 7'. Dictionary
of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. II (1963), p. 358
7 March 2012
Added an usual cover with a USNS Range Recoverer cachet and a USS New postmark to Apollo 11. Added an example
of a Harry Gordon text cachet to Apollo 7.
29 February 2012
Added a signed PRS cover to Gemini 7. Added a USS
Chipola cover with an unusual mission emblem cachet to Apollo 10. Added a second copy of the rare black USS Boxer cachet to Apollo 201.
26 February 2012
Added a cover from Mercury 7 addressed to W. R. Skelley
to my article on Skelley thanks to Steven Friedman. Added an interesting cover
postmarked for Navy Recovery Team Swimmers practicing for John Glenn's flight to 'Training Mission' covers.
22 February 2012
Added three interesting covers recently sold on eBay to Recently Sold
Interesting Covers including an unusual Gemini 9 Captain's
cover. Also added an Apollo 12 PRS cover signed
by the three Astronauts, the ship's Commanding Officer and the Recovery Helicopter pilot which sold in a recent
RR auction.
21 February 2012
Added a signed PRS cover from the Swim helicopter
to Skylab 4. Added a rare Beck B456 cover with
a USS Lake Champlain to Gemini 2. Added a very hard to find USNS
Rose Knot to Gemini 8. Added a better scan of the beautiful minisheet
from Nicaragua showing several views of the recovery of Mercury capsules to 'Stamps, Minisheets and Other Items'.
11 February 2012
Added an unusual MA-6 USS Noa cover which sold in the recent
Regency Superior auction for $260 plus buyers commission to Recently Sold
Interesting Covers.
10 February 2012
Added a number of recent eBay sales including a Gemini
2 PRS Beck Crew Cover to Recently Sold Interesting Covers. The Crew
cover sold for $77 confirming recent good prices for Beck Crew covers.
1 February 2012
A scarce Gemini 6A PRS Beck Crew cover sold for $81
on eBay. Prices for such covers are increasing. Added two USS Lake
Champlain covers with slightly different Karcher cachets to Mercury 9.
31 January 2012
Added an unusual Apollo 12 Captain's Cover with
a US Navy embossed emblem. Sold on eBay for $131
28 January 2012
A hard to find Gemini 8 USS Boxer cover with a green
cachet (note that the scan does not show the correct colour) brought an extremely good price of $62.76 on eBay.
See Recently Sold Interesting Covers to see a number of other interesting
covers sold on eBay during January.
18 January 2012
A USS Goldsborough cover with an unusual cachet
to Apollo 11.
16 January 2012
Added an article entitled 'Who is W R Skelley'. You'll have
to read the article to find out!
8 January 2012
Add a Skylab 3 USS New Orleans Beck cover
with missing red to Unusual, Crew & Error Beck Covers thanks to Tom Steiner.
6 January 2012
A Beck Crew Cover (USS New Orleans from Skylab
3) sold for $135.50 on eBay! This cover was unusual in that it was addressed
to a Mr McDougal and had an accompanying note from Morris Beck to Mr McDougal regarding the cover. This is the
first time I've seen a postmarked Beck cover without a number sent to anyone. Up to now such covers were believed
to have be sent to the Navy to give to each ship's Postal Officer as a thank you for servicing Morris Beck's covers.
This cover raises the question 'Were some un-numbered Beck covers also sent to some of Beck's customers and/or
friends?'.
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