Author
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Topic: Soviet "Baikonur covers" numbered cachets
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Alan Lipkin Member Posts: 78 From: Beverly Hills, CA USA Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 08-07-2012 06:15 PM
I recently came across a few cacheted covers that the owner calls "Baikonur covers" each has a number (between 1 and 150 stamped on it). It appears that these were editions of 150 issued by a stamp club in the area. Is anyone familiar with these? Are they readily available? What do they go for? I have a feeling that I should know more about these, but this is the best way to find out. |
cosmos-walter Member Posts: 691 From: Salzburg, Austria Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 08-07-2012 06:58 PM
Alan, please, post us good pictures of the cover and of the postmark. If the covers have a glossy surface and an imprint "Tirage: 150" you have to be especially careful. |
Penney Kols Member Posts: 38 From: saint louis mo usa Registered: Sep 2008
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posted 08-08-2012 04:39 PM
Here are four PDFs showing the covers: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
eurospace Member Posts: 2610 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 08-09-2012 10:17 AM
Well, these covers have been cancelled at Baikonur, Karaganda Oblast. The "real" Baikonur, however, is located in the Ksyl. Orda Oblast, today in Kazakstan. The next location to the cosmodrome is called Tyura Tam. Before the cosmodrome was built in the mid-50s, there was just railway station with a few houses for railway personnel in the middle of the steppe. In the 60s, the exact location of the cosmodrome was unknown. The name Baikonur was given to it precisely to confuse Western secret services. In fact, this Baikonur ("Black Earth") that you find on the cancel is located several hundred kilometers from the cosmodrome. Which didn't stop some people to produce this sort of covers to create the impression they were produced at the cosmodrome. "Real" covers postmarked at the cosmodrome only appeared around 1975, in the wake of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. |
cosmos-walter Member Posts: 691 From: Salzburg, Austria Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 08-15-2012 11:53 AM
According to A.I.E.P. expert Vyatcheslav Klochko these items have faked postmark. |
cosmos-walter Member Posts: 691 From: Salzburg, Austria Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 08-17-2012 09:32 AM
A French stamp dealer sold covers postmarked with a fake from this fake. They have a scratch in the letter "a" below the date of the postmark. |
Slava Klochko New Member Posts: From: Registered:
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posted 08-28-2012 07:48 AM
I'd like to inform you about these covers. First of all they are fakes. There are a lot of such covers with different pictures and cancelled by fake post stamps with set dates devoted to different events of space explorations.Beside of that it is necessary to point out the following moments. The post office of Baikonur Cocmodrome has used the post stamp with this name since 27.04.1975. Baikonur settlement is situated far from 300 km on the north-west from Karaganda City. This post office had the post stamp with the text “Baikonur, Karaganda region” (Байконур, Караганд. обл.) of two types with litters “a” and “б”. That stamp has been used at the Baikonur settlement post office until 1972. The marks of these stamps are quite rare. Genuine post stamps have 5-digits date mechanism but fake 6-digits (litter "b") and 7 digits (litter "a"). I knew the maker of these fakes. He has died in 1986. |
Space-it Member Posts: 13 From: Villarbasse - TO - Italy Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 10-31-2012 02:05 PM
"Baikonur Karaganda" fakes are still circulating. I calculated that there are many dozens of thousands of such forged items on the market. Be careful and never drop your guard. As one may learn from this very case, it seems that even top-rated eBay sellers are not a warranty. I issued a short article on this topic, published first on AD*ASTRA the Journal of AS.IT.AF. (Italian Astrophilately Society) and then reissued on ORBIT, the Journal of ASSS (Astro Stamp Space Society-UK). There are still many questions to be further investigated about their origin. I'd be grateful to anyone able to provide more light on this very large family of forged items. |
Space-it Member Posts: 13 From: Villarbasse - TO - Italy Registered: Jun 2008
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posted 10-31-2012 03:17 PM
I contacted the eBay vendor, he immediately replied: Yes I know that these Baikonur covers are considered as Khorosov-Baikonur fakes. When I saw these covers I strongly hesitated if to buy or not.I don´t want to mislead anybody but think that most club covers collectors know that these covers are suspicious. After I got your message I also added text to description "fake Baikonur." The covers are still on sale, at the same price. |