posted 06-15-2013 07:38 AM               

Space Cover #218: Apollo 11 Anniversary Covers

Probably more covers exist for Apollo 11 than any other space event. As time went on, interest continued in the first manned landing on the moon and that interest resulted in Apollo 11 anniversary covers being created for years afterwards. However, many consider anniversary covers as unnecessary and trivial, but for autograph purposes and for big events like Apollo 11, many can have significance.

Here I have displayed a selection of seven Apollo 11 anniversary covers that include the first, second, fourth, fifth, fifteenth and twentieth anniversaries.

The cover at the top is one of 3,200 official NASA/KSC rubber stamp cacheted covers done by the KSC post office for the first anniversary of Apollo 11 and was later autographed by Buzz Aldrin. The bottom cover marks the second anniversary and bears the famous Paul Calle designed Apollo 11 first moonlanding stamp and a nice KSC hand cancel.

The top cover marks the fourth anniversary of Apollo 11 with a printed cachet and a Cape Canaveral anniversary machine cancel. The middle cover has a Cape Canaveral 5th anniversary machine cancel and autographed by Aldrin. It was issued by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in their Milestones of Flight Commemorative cover series. The bottom cover marks Apollo 11's 15th anniversary and bears three appropriate space stamps and a very impressive cachet.

At the top is a Dow-Unicover cover and it's a very unusual double anniversary cover that commemorates the 15th anniversary of both the Apollo 11 launch and moonlanding. First canceled at KSC for the July 16 launch anniversary, it was then sent to the Houston post office for the July 20 moonlanding anniversary cancel. Finally, the bottom cover is a Chris Calle designed Priority Mail stamp First Day of Issue cover, with hand stamp cancels from four KSC-area post offices. This multi-canceling resulted in the cover being an official FDC, along with three unofficial First Day of Issue cancels included.

Perhaps some dedicated collectors have assembled a collection of covers marking every Apollo 11 anniversary from the first one to the 43rd?!