posted 07-26-2022 06:24 PM               

I remember in the mid-60's that Look Magazine came out with one of the first widely published 3D lenticular images (this one of a chess board) and I was fascinated! Then when Apollo geared up, the local Woolworth store stocked three 3D lenticular-image postcards of Apollo, and this space-and-lenticular-image-geek was really hooked!

I bought all three (the first three in the image below). I lost interest over the years, but just recently got re-interested, and have bought up the rest in this image. And yep, they are technically inaccurate, kitschy, and pretty hokey, but the kid in me still loves them. Anyone else into these?

posted 07-27-2022 11:40 AM               

Here are a few more different postcard space themes and most of mine have postal cancels from the Cape/KSC for the early manned Apollo launches of Apollos 8, 9, 10, and 11 with moonlanding and splashdown dates as well. The Ed White GT-4/EVA picture card depicted here is a little bit different than yours, Dennis, but I don't know what different cards were issued in the series nor how many of the colorful 3D postcards were issued like this.

The hard-back stock or thick cards were produced by Vari- Vue Card Picture Productions, Inc., of Mt. Vernon, New York while the lighter-weight thin cards were made by Asahi Trading Company in Japan. I wonder if the two postcard companies had worked together on them. I've got a few others that I need to track down, however, I do have a series of Apollo 11 3D cards by Vari-Vue Cape-postmarked for major mission events. That particular set of about a dozen cards all had a strong peculiar odor to them that are kept in a sealed box container.

posted 07-28-2022 10:18 AM               

And Ken, I've run across some of those strong-smelling cards too. I keep them in a sealed Ziploc away from the rest of my collection as well.

posted 07-30-2022 05:03 PM               

I've been fascinated by lenticular images since I was a kid. Anyone familiar with my space inspired artwork knows that I love 3D images, and those early lenticulars are likely a heavy influence. I've made several stereographic pairs from my images, and I have looked into sending them out to one of the shops that make lenticular prints.

The most unique lenticular item in my collection, and my favorite, is affixed to the cover of Venture magazine (June/July 1967). It measures 6-1/2 inches square. It is a 3D photograph of a quarter scale lunar module model with a full sized astronaut set in the distance. The photo was taken at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, TX. According to the caption found within the magazine, the simulated lunar landscape includes rocks that "come from as far away as Hawaii."

Click image for 3D effect animated loop

quote:

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Originally posted by micropooz:
And yep, they are technically inaccurate, kitschy, and pretty hokey, but the kid in me still loves them.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
That particular set of about a dozen cards all had a strong peculiar odor to them that are kept in a sealed box container.

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posted 08-22-2022 10:10 AM               

There is another altogether different Ed White EVA version and with no model being used. It's rather from an original NASA photo-recreation with a size of 4.5" x 6.6" produced by a different company than Vari-Vue and Ashi Trading Company of Japan, located in New York. This one of White was made by Manhattan Post Card Publishing Company on Broadway, New York. I wonder if all three postcard companies, located in the downtown New York area, perhaps were working together in one way or another or in sharing the same type views?

The second photo-group refers to the prior Apollo-Soyuz (ASTP) card depiction above. I did locate a half-dozen of the same-type 3D cards from my cover boxes of the joint US-USSR spaceflight from 1975. They're the same as before, however, I was able to cancel-service all of the ones I had myself while at the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island post offices on the actual days of launch, docking, and splashdown. For some reason, though, all of mine have that "bent or curled" appearance that you can see from their scan postings, but no funky odors this time.

posted 11-15-2022 04:36 PM               

Most all of them were posted at the Cape, with hand and/or machine cancels alike, for Apollo 11 12, and 13.

In seeing the mysterious box in sight while in a space hardware storage area, the smell (odor) hit me in the face like a brick! Still with the box not opened yet, it was a most strange peculiar odor coming from it. But once the film box was unsealed and opened, oh my gosh, the smelly cards went from peculiar to horrible. They are now back in their box and resealed with a special tape.

Most of the postcards in this latest group-find all pertained to Apollo-card scenes for launch, lunar orbit insertion, moon landing and flag planting, spacecraft rendezvous and docking, lunar liftoff, and reentry.