posted 04-20-2019 11:11 PM               

Space Cover #511: PRS Covers With Cancels That Shouldn't Be

Some of the Primary Recovery Ships (PRS) used both hand cancels and machine cancels, such as the USS Hornet for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. Some PRSs had only machine cancels, such as the USS Princeton for Apollo 10, or only hand cancels, such as the USS Ticonderoga for Apollo 16, where all the cancels were done by the ship's postal clerks at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Years ago when the Space Unit had circuits of covers that would be sent first, to one SU member who would take what he wanted, then send a check to the seller and mail the rest of the covers to the next name on the list, I noticed that the above Apollo 10 Princeton had a hand cancel, which was new to me. However, on the very far right edge is a partial machine cancel. I assumed that a postal clerk noticed that the machine cancel missed the mark and then correctly hand cancelled this unique cover.

Whenever I find a unique cover I then try to get signatures on it to make it even more unique, such as was done above.

One other time in one of those circuits, I noticed that on an Apollo 16 USS Ticonderoga cover, there was a machine cancel on the cover. If the machine cancelling device had been in Hawaii, it would most probably be used for most, if not all of the covers for the speed of being able to do so. Therefore I surmised that it was still aboard the PRS and someone on the ship had used it for a very small amount of covers as shown below.

The cachet is an Apollo 16 decal and looking into the envelope I can see through the envelope that there are a series of horizontal lines behind the decal, like those that collectors have added to covers which they send in with requests that the covers be flown by the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRSq.) helicopters. It may be that someone on board "borrowed" a mailed-in cover (or two or three or more) and also had access to where the machine cancelling device was located where he created a few personal covers. The Charles Duke signature was added to the cover after I bought it.