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Author
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Topic: Unusual Gemini 11 USS Guam recovery covers
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Ross
Member Posts: 546
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-22-2023 08:59 AM
   
These are most unusual Gemini PRS (prime recovery ship) covers. Firstly they are on USS Guam stationary. Not so strange you might reply. But the second point is far more interesting. Unlike the Navy RSCs (rubber stamp cancels) these have a light blue background which is quite clear on the actual cover. Was the Navy cachet copied by the USS Guam's printing lab and then redone as a printed cachet with a light blue background? Or was the background printed separately? What do people think. Either way, they make a nice variation.  
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Axman
Member Posts: 256
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 11-22-2023 09:35 AM
I have to say that the light blue backgrounds do not show up well on those scans; Or to be more precise, do not show up at all on the view I have.Are they confined to the interior of the thick blue border, or do they (the light blue backgrounds) form a square exterior to the border? |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 849
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-22-2023 01:46 PM
GREAT covers. As Axman says we can't really see the background colors in the scans.I don't own any USS Guam ship stationary covers to compare to but I believe the ones I have seen only have a RSC applied. |
Axman
Member Posts: 256
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 11-23-2023 07:53 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ross:
Was the Navy cachet copied by the USS Guam's printing lab and then redone as a printed cachet with a light blue background? Or was the background printed separately? What do people think.
I favour the second option because there are distinct differences between the two 'foregrounds' of your examples (especially the detail of the parachute) that I don't think would be there on a printed version but are almost inevitable on a a rubber stamp impression.
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Ross
Member Posts: 546
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-23-2023 08:05 AM
Yes, the backgrounds are hard to seen on the scans. However, while a very light blue, they are quite distinct on the actual covers. The blue background is only within the borders of the darker blue RSC. |
Axman
Member Posts: 256
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 11-23-2023 09:24 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ross:
The blue background is only within the borders of the darker blue RSC.
Ahhh, in that case I'm back to square one: it would be a right faff to print a background and then apply a rubber stamp... |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 849
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 11-23-2023 09:29 AM
If actually printed — maybe not printed by the ship print shop but on a color copier machine. The copiers in the 1960s weren't that good and I remember images having different background colors than the original. |
Axman
Member Posts: 256
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 11-23-2023 09:36 AM
...but on that basis Tom, you'd expect the background colour to extend outside the dark blue border.It's a mystery. (Oops I've accidentally launched a Toyah Wilcox track in my head. I'll be humming it all night now.) |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 3727
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 11-23-2023 08:38 PM
Here are a few others with extras that I have, including several with no postage stamps affixed, but did receive nice ship hand cancels on both the cachet depicted cover types. Most of mine do not have postage stamps applied despite their hand cancellations on them. I wonder why the postal ship clerk decided to postmark several covers without any postage? Also, when comparing the application of the blue Navy recovery force cachets, all of mine are not printed on the covers but rather an actual rubber stamp impression as each has a slightly different location. The USS Guam printed cachet covers, which included the crew autopens as part of one of the printed ship cachets, were from NASA's Bill Der Bing of the Manned Spacecraft Center (JSC) in Houston. He was the head of JSC's Special Events Office and was onboard the aircraft carrier as a special NASA representative for GT-11's recovery at sea. All the covers below came from his estate.  |
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