randyc
Member Posts: 908
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: May 2003
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posted 06-29-2024 10:35 AM
   
Space cover collectors are familiar with many of the "classic" cachets such as Spacecraft/Swanson, Orbit Covers, Goldey, Space Voyage (Rank), Centennial Covers and others, but there are other, unique cachets that are hand-painted by artists, both famous, such as Robert McCall, and not-so-famous. There are covers where the cachet is printed and hand-colored, and I have some of those, but my favorite artist-made covers are the ones that are hand-painted.Over the past few years I started adding hand-painted covers to my collection, and selected a few of my favorites shown below. The first one is a First Day of Issue cover, cancelled in Houston, Texas on August 2, 1971, for the two Decade of Achievement Stamps. At first glance it looks like the artist who created the stamps, Robert McCall, also painted the cachet. But this cover has been painted by Jogene de Jesus II. It's the first time I've seen a cover painted by this artist and it's an exceptional copy of the Robert McCall stamps. And, according to a note on the back of the cover from the artist, this cover is one-of-a-kind.  The next example is a First Day of Issue cover, cancelled in Washington D.C. on September 6, 1969, for the First Man on the Moon stamp commemorating the Apollo 11 mission. This cover was hand-drawn by Christopher Henderson and the likenesses of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins are some of the best that I've seen. Only 8 of these covers were made and this one is no. 2.  Robert McCall added hand-drawn cachets to many covers, but the ones I like best are the ones that show images related to the stamp on the cover, such as the First Day of Issue cover below, cancelled at the Kennedy Space Center on August 2, 1971 for his Decade of Achievement stamps. As you can see it's similar to the stamp with the astronauts and Lunar Rover, but the Earth is in a different location.  The last cover is a First Day of Issue Cover, cancelled on February 20, 1962, for the Project Mercury stamp commemorating the flight of John Glenn and Friendship 7. The artist, Warren Reed, did a great job capturing a young John Glenn as he looked in 1962.  I have several other hand-painted covers that I will post in the future, but in the meantime I would like to see some of the favorite hand-painted covers from other collectors. |
randyc
Member Posts: 908
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: May 2003
|
posted 06-30-2024 05:02 PM
Although I have not seen any of the other seven of the Apollo 11 covers I would expect that they are all hand-painted like this one. When an artist hand-paints a cachet sometimes they only create one, like the Decades of Achievement stamps cover shown above, but most of the time they create more than one. Sometimes the number is less than 10 (I have hand-painted covers that are one of two, one of four and, like the Apollo 11 cover shown above, one of eight), and sometimes it’s more (I also have hand-painted covers that are one of 50 and one of 65). However the number of hand-painted covers is usually much less than the number of covers that have a cachet that is printed and then hand-colored, which can be in the hundreds. |
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