posted 12-18-2011 07:39 AM               

As a surprise gift to Space Craft Cover (SCC) collectors, Space Craft Cover artist Carl Swanson designs this Season's Greeting, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year's holiday card and mails it to Space Craft customers December 9, 1971, from Fort Worth, Texas. The card has the unlikely rubber-stamped cancel of December 25, 1971, Moon Postal Service, Hadley Rille (the Moon).

The plain cover in which the card was mailed, is from the same light green paper stock from which the card was made. The eight cent partridge in a pear tree holiday season stamp paid the first class mail postage for a one ounce letter mailed in this time frame. The cover is canceled with a December 9, 1971, U.S. Postal Service, TX, 760 (Texas) machine cancel without any further identifying marks on the front or back of this festive holiday cover.

Space Cover #140, Space Craft Covers Season's Greetings From the Moon

It was free, and you could not buy one. It was only sent to Space Craft Covers' (SCC) Joe Fitzpatrick and Carl Swanson's subscription customers in a light green, unassuming, plain envelope. Inside the envelope was a real gem of a cover, though, a 1971 Season's Greeting card mailed to SCC's space cover collectors. Similar to the cover in which it was mailed, the light green card has a small printed name "SWANSON" in the lower left corner of a printed faux Space Craft cover stamp, complete with a faux rubber-stamped machine cancel above the stamp stating, "Moon Postal Service, December 25, 1971, Hadley Rille," (the Moon).

The cancel killer bars in the cancellation state "Merry Christmas" and beneath this, a second killer bar adds, "Happy New Year." Where the cover recipient's address usually would be, in bold green letters, is this statement, "To Cover Collectors of Space Craft" and lower and to the left side of the cover is this information, "From Hadley Rille Post Office." Below this in red letters is the statement, "Opened 2 August 1971 During Apollo 15 visit," with reference to a lunar post office that was briefly opened by astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin to cancel stamps on the Moon after Apollo 15's spacecraft Falcon landed on the Moon at Hadley Rille during their epic lunar mission the previous August.

The printed red cachet on the cover is a stylized copy of the Apollo 15 crew's mission insignia giving the freebie Swanson card the appearance of a crew patch space cover. But, the artwork also is different. The card also has the addition of a bright star in the cachet and has red printed holly garlands and berries for the season and a bold overarching "Season's Greetings" in green lettering over the crew's insignia completing Swanson's lyrical design. The Season's Greeting card was never repeated by Swanson, it was only done this one year in early December 1971.

By way of historical background, Space Craft Covers were often called the "Cadillac of Space Covers," and the cover enterprise owned and operated by Joe Fitzpatrick and Carl Swanson was very popular with space cover collectors. Carl Swanson did all of the artwork for Space Craft Covers. Unfortunately, his partner, Joe Fitzpatrick, died in March of 1970, and the regular Space Craft Cover series came to an end. Swanson continued the cover series, though, with a new series he called "Manned Space Craft Covers," and covers under the new series' name then would be issued for U.S. Apollo flights Apollo 13 through Apollo 17. The Season's Greetings Cover for this week's Space Cover of the Week was sent out during the Christmas holiday season in the post Apollo 15 holiday season period. And, it was free.

I would like to thank all of our Space Cover of the Week supporters for the two years we have been showcasing great space covers on collectSPACE. I would also like to add at this holiday season, "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All!"

posted 12-21-2011 06:02 PM               

August 2, 1971 was the First Day of Issue for the United States in Space ... A Decade of Achievements. SCC used these stamps on their covers from KSC, Cape Canaveral and Patrick AFB on August 2 creating unofficial FDC. On a limited number of these unofficial FDCs from Cape Canaveral SCC added the Hadley Rille - Moon Postal Service cancel just like the one on the Christmas Card.

posted 12-22-2012 08:31 PM               

Have rolled this out again for something festive at this time of year having just past the winter solstice.