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Author
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Topic: Rarest of the prime recovery ship (PRS) covers
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Ross
Member Posts: 472
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 09-21-2011 10:48 AM
   
Here is a question for recovery ship cover collectors. Excluding postmark and cachet variations, which is the rarest US manned spaceflight Primary Recovery Ship (PRS) cover? |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 09-21-2011 10:51 AM
Everyone would like the Shepard Mercury cover but somehow I don't think it is the rarest. |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 660
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 09-21-2011 12:04 PM
I would say the USS Randolph for Grissom. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 09-21-2011 12:15 PM
A couple of "gray-area" covers are probably the rarest:USS LaSalle for the Gemini-MOL unmanned test. "Gray area" because this wasn't a manned flight, and a manned flight never happened for MOL. USS John R. Pierce for Aurora 7. It recovered the capsule after helos from the Intrepid recovered Carpenter. "Gray area" because it didn't actually pick up the astronaut... |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 660
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 09-21-2011 12:25 PM
Thought about that too... especially the USS John R. Pierce. Interestingly I have actually seen more USS John R. Pierce covers than USS Randolph covers. |
Ross
Member Posts: 472
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 09-21-2011 12:32 PM
Some good guesses but not good enough. And, I must admit, the area is quite grey but it was a manned mission. And one of the few covers available from the PRS was just sold on eBay, which led to this question. |
daveblog
Member Posts: 135
From: Bergenfield, NJ USA
Registered: May 2004
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posted 09-21-2011 05:23 PM
Gemini 6 10/25/65 USS Wasp with hand cancel? I am guessing that because I got very outbid on one today. |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 660
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 09-21-2011 09:03 PM
Ross - are you including the abort dates like Dave Blog suggests? I was not considering them as I was going on actual flown mission dates.Even IF you are considering the 10/25/65 USS Wasp cover - I have seen more of 10/25/65 USS Wasp covers than USS Randolph Grissom covers.
After having only seen one of the USS Wasp covers in 20 years I have seen about 10 different ones over the past 3 years. The original one I saw in a Chicago area collection, Mr. Durst has at least two in his magic cover box, the exhibit I saw one is was David Ball's. At least five on eBay counting the one Dave Blog mentions above, etc. |
Ross
Member Posts: 472
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 09-21-2011 11:41 PM
Yes I was thinking of the Gemini 6 abort mission. And sorry Dave, I was the one who outbid you.I will defer to Tom on the number of covers. I was aware of one from Steve and one from Tom (they're on my site) but I've been looking for one on eBay for the last 12-18 months and this was the first one I've seen. Tom must have sharper eyes than me or a better search criteria. I will amend my site. However, I've also seen 5+ Randolph covers over the last several years so I would suggest that it may be a tie. I do have an interesting question. Are all the GTA-6 covers from crew members? The three I've seen appear to be, one is a Captain's cover, one is on ship's stationary and the most recent one looks like it is from a crew member. Does this indicate that all the philatelic covers to the USS Wasp from the mission were held over for GT-6A/7' |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 691
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 09-22-2011 02:53 AM
Probably the most scarce cover which was postmarked on board a prime recovery ship on the day, they recovered a manned space flight was John Glenn's PRS USS Noa. These covers have P.M. in the postmark. Covers without P.M. were postmarked three days later when USS Noa returned to harbour. |
Ross
Member Posts: 472
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 09-22-2011 08:27 AM
I agree with Walter. The reason I didn't count the USS Noa was the question mark over covers with a non-mercury stamp and a Feb 20 postmark. Are they all these backdated, all legit or are only some backdated? We don't really know. However, Walter's obsevation of the scarity of the P.M. postmarked covers is certainly true. I'd love to have one! |
stevedd841
Member Posts: 292
From: Millersville, Maryland
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted 09-22-2011 02:24 PM
I was fortunate enough to win one of the Glenn PRS USS Noa covers with a PM cancel in a New York auction about five years ago for a very reasonable price. At the time I thought it was an oddity as a PRS cover with a PM cancel and also without a Project Mercury stamp indicating it was canceled on the ship for Glenn's recovery and not one of the backdated USS Noa covers the ship's postal clerk canceled in port. Over time, I have come to believe like Walter that the PM USS Noa cover is really a very difficult cover to find having seen only one other cover with this cancel in my searches, and a cover similar to the one I have: Good hunting! |
Ross
Member Posts: 472
From: Australia
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 09-23-2011 08:32 AM
Steve, a great cover. The really interesting thing is that Steve's cover, the example in Ray's book and the only other one I saw several years ago are all addressed to the same lady, Mrs Trudy Woods. Does anyone else have a cover with this postmark and to whom is it addressed? |
Eddie Bizub
Member Posts: 81
From: Kissimmee, FL USA
Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 09-25-2011 04:00 PM
Tough question Ross! For actual manned PRS I might have to go with USS Noa for MA-6. Have only had 2 of those over the years. Have had 4 Randolphs and a handful of Lake Champlains. For the grey-area covers I have only seen 1 USS LaSalle cover and only 2 John R. Pierce covers. Without a doubt, all of these covers are quite tough to find! |
NAAmodel#240
Member Posts: 312
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted 09-26-2011 01:30 PM
Without looking at my MA-6 Noa PM PRS I think it too is addressed to Trudy Woods. For those that might not be aware, Ms. Woods was not a Space or Polar collector (nor was her sister who also received covers). The address was used by their father Robert Schoenfeld (sp?) who used his daughters as a way around limits on the number of covers he could send. |
cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 691
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 09-28-2011 02:13 PM
In my collection I have a USS Noa PM cover addressed to V. Eismont, P.O. Box 93, Spring Valley, NY. I sent it to John Glenn for his signature. Since I began collecting space covers during Apollo 11 mission, I got a later signature without Jr.
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