posted 01-13-2025 09:11 AM               

The top one, the postcard, is an official Kennedy Space Centre VIP postcard, given out to those attending the spectacle on the VIP stands closest to the pad on the day of the Apollo 7 launch, the first manned flight of the Apollo missions to land a man on the moon. I have absolutely no doubt it is genuine.

Underneath is an envelope, or a cover in philatelic terms. The cancellation postmark indicates it was issued on the Apollo 7 launch day from within the restricted area of the Kennedy Space Centre. It was not postmarked by the Visitor Information Centre.

What intrigues me is that it is neither an official VIP postcard, nor a NASA Official Cachet. The NOCs for Apollo 7 (and Apollo 8) were uniquely produced as labels, not rubber stamped impressions. They were applied by sticking them onto an envelope. I do not possess an Apollo 7 NOC to show here, but I am assured they had smooth edges and were made of shiny material. (If anybody has contradictory information I would love to know it).

I bought my envelope for a few dollars. I was told by the vendor that the cachet had been cut from a cereal packet and then stuck on!

But... I cannot find any information regarding Apollo 7 badged cereal packets.
The cachet is definitely a cut-out and has been stuck on, but the edges are crudely cut. The material is more like heavy paper than light cardboard. And significantly, the dimensions are exactly the same as the official VIP postcard cachet.

But it cannot be just a VIP card cut-out applied to a franked envelope for at least three reasons:

1. Why. Why would anybody do that?

2. Although the dimensions are exactly the same, the colours are deeper, more purplish than the VIP card.

3. Why. Why would anybody do that?

posted 01-13-2025 10:43 AM               

It has definitely been stuck on. It is thinner than cereal packet material. It is matte, not shiny. It has exactly the same dimensions as the VIP card cachet and maybe the same thickness if not thinner, but the printing (and it is printed) is not exactly the same quality as the VIP card, hard to define how it differs, except very slightly in colour and definition.

posted 01-13-2025 01:58 PM               

Forty years later, I have seen Apollo 7 ONC labels that were cut perfectly square, beveled on the upper right to make room for the cancel, and as you have seen, roughly cut right around the insignia. And you are correct — the paper is not shiny and the print quality is slightly less than that of the VIP cards.

The story that was told to me is this: A rubber stamped ONC was developed and did not work out well (too detailed - I'll try to post an image later). So, the PO hurriedly ordered up stickers. The first few stickers were carefully square cut and applied, but as time went by, less care was given to cutting and applying the labels (hence the beveled and rough-cut-around ones).

posted 01-13-2025 06:17 PM               

Here is one of the rubber-stamped Apollo 7 ONC's that I mentioned above:

posted 01-13-2025 06:31 PM               

This is an excellent example of the Apollo 7 ONC label cachet being carefully trimmed and then applied by the collector to his blank canceled cover.

Evidently, the rectangular labels were sometimes (always/usually?) not applied by the KSC post office, but enclosed inside the cover for the receiving collector to apply as desired (I seem to remember buying an Apollo 7 cover years ago with a loose Apollo 7 ONC label inside). So, as probably many like the original owner of this cover did, trimmed around the insignia design and then applied it to the cover. Often, as we've seen, the trimmer was not careful.

The smaller label cachet as seen on Walter's Apollo 8 cover, was probably the result of the KSC postmaster realizing that their Apollo 7 label cachet was too big and made the Apollo 8 label a smaller and more convenient size.

If you look closely, you can see evidence of the label being trimmed.

posted 01-14-2025 10:03 AM               

The only big concern about them in my opinion is their weak printing quality with the added adhesive on back since they are many decades old, but hey, some can still work for me. Sometimes on others their reverse side is toned so much that the gummed label residue can be seen on the front.

posted 01-14-2025 12:45 PM               

I stand corrected on the story I'd heard decades ago about the postal clerks getting impatient and trimming the Apollo 7 ONC stickers ever closer and rougher.