posted 06-02-2022 10:08 AM               

Space Cover 652: Apollo 11 Coin First Day Cover

Space collectors know of my father and my involvement in designing a multitude of United States Apollo 11 stamps. Perhaps one of my father's most well known Space paintings is the 10c 1969 First Man on the Moon stamp design for the US Postal Service, Scott # C76. This iconic image of Neil Armstrong stepping on the surface of the Moon is remembered worldwide.

The engraved plates for the postage stamp were carried to the surface of the Moon by the Apollo XI astronauts.

In 1989 for the 20th Anniversary of the Moon Landing the Postal Service asked me to design the $2.40 Priority Mail stamp and my father to design a First Day Cover cachet for the issue. In 1994 for the 25th Anniversary of the Apollo XI Moon Landing we jointly designed two US stamps commemorating the event, a 29c Commemorative stamp and a $9.95 Express Mail stamp.

What collectors may not know is that we have been involved with space stamps for other nations as well. In 1994, along with the jointly designed United States Apollo 11 stamps, we jointly designed a se-tenant set of Apollo 11 stamps of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

What most space collectors don't know is that my father and I designed First Men on the Moon 25th Anniversary Commemorative Coins which are legal tender in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The $5 Commemorative Coin portrays the planting of an American flag on the Moon's surface while the $20 Commemorative Coin depicts the fist step onto the Moon's surface.

The Marshall Islands produced an "Official Coin First Day Cover" which has the special cancel for the First Day of Issue for the se-tenant stamp and the $5 First Men on the Moon 25th Anniversary Commemorative Coin sealed in plastic as the "cachet." The cover came with a Certificate of Authenticity from the Marshall Island Postal Service.

Certificate of Authenticity

The Republic of the Marshall Island certifies that the First Men on the Moon 25th Anniversary $5 Official Coin First Day Cover includes one Brilliant Solid Cupronickel $5 commemorative coin issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the first manned landing on the lunar surface. The Coin First Day Cover also bears a se-tenant block of four stamps. One of these depicts John F. Kennedy – the president who challenged his nation to put a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s – and the others capture moments of the historic Apollo 11 mission that achieved this goal. The official July 20, 1994, First Day of Issue postmark certifies this limited and records the exact 25th Anniversary of mankind's greatest achievement in space.

Signed/Sailass Andrike
Controller of Posts, Marshall Islands Postal Service

Here is an image of the front of the $20 Commemorative Coin my father and I designed. The reverse of all Republic of the Marshall Island coins display the national seal of the Marshall Islands.

posted 06-06-2022 05:55 PM               

Also, had never seen the Official Coin First Day Cover with both the stamps and coin in the same item. Will be looking for it now!