posted 06-30-2024 08:51 AM               

Space Cover 760: 1434-35 FDOI Official City, Unofficial Cancel

The above cover was machine-cancelled at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on August 2nd, 1971, while Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin were on the surface of the Moon. The cachet was produced by Solar Covers and the cancellation is the Saturn V pictorial that KSC used from 1965 through 1977. The se-tenant pair of stamps on the cover are Scott #1434-35, commemorating a decade of US achievements in space (1961-1971), issued on Aug. 2nd, 1971, the same date as this cover.

First Day of Issue (FDOI) cancellations for the decades stamps can be found in three cities: Kennedy Space Center (FL), Houston (TX), and Huntsville (AL). These official cancellations contain the words "First Day of Issue", were produced in the millions, and can be readily found, examples of these cancels are shown below. A prior SCOTW 640 discusses a related topic, the variations of FDOI machine cancels from Huntsville.

What makes the above cover interesting is that it was cancelled at an official FDOI city but has the KSC post office machine cancel. Another example of this can be seen below, a Space Craft Cover (SCC) with Swanson cachet celebrating the lunar module Falcon lifting off the surface.

These unofficial covers were produced in much smaller numbers and are an interesting variation to have in your collection. Through the course of collecting, I've also located KSC and Houston hand cancels shown below. I have yet to come across an unofficial cancel from Huntsville (either machine or hand).

The KSC cover was most likely created by a member of the KSC philatelic club. The SCC Lunar Post Office cachet is one of my personal all-time favorite Swanson artwork. A total of 300 covers of this type with the Houston hand-cancellation were created (listed as M11j in Charles Vukotich's Space Craft Covers catalog).

I would be interested to see other unofficial FDOI cancellations for the three official cities, especially if they have different cachets or cancel types than the ones shown above. Who knows, you may have one lurking in your collection and not even know it, happy hunting.

posted 06-30-2024 09:45 AM               

Sorry but I cannot add any special cover as you request except this one very similar to one of yours.

posted 07-01-2024 11:23 AM               

The other entries are for unofficial cities of Cape Canaveral and the Astronaut Trail Station at Titusville in Florida. I can't recall seeing too many other Space Coast area postal cancels on Aug. 2, 1971, with the new 8-cent "...A Decade of Achievement" stamp pair for the U.S. in space. Most likely this would had been for Patrick AFB, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, and Satellite Beach. Has anyone seen any of the other space coastal cities?

In addition, note the special cancel from the Cape with a slogan machine strike for "Anniversary of Man's First Walk on the Moon." I believe it ran for two months in July and August 1971. May get to show a few others as I come across them.

posted 07-01-2024 09:06 PM               

I have one unofficial city that Ken mentioned, Patrick AFB with both the machine cancel (hard to read) and a registered mail hand cancel with the Solar cachet.