posted 03-28-2009 03:41 PM               

1. Was this cover definitely backdated, maybe backdated, or really cancelled on January 27, 1967 (or perhaps the next day)?

2. Was a genuine Cape Canaveral Post Office hand cancellation device used?

3. If the cover is backdated is it collectible if a genuine Cape Canaveral Post Office hand cancellation device was used? and

4. Although someone paid $950 for a similar cover, what would be a more realistic price for it?

posted 03-29-2009 07:48 AM               

Steve Durst from the Space Unit agrees and makes the following comment in his upcoming book "The Cape Canaveral pm postmark for January 27, 1967, is also suspect as the Cape Canaveral post office was closed at the time of the Apollo 1, Apollo 204 fire." In both cases the cachet appears to be an official NASA cachet but is almost certainly contrived. It would be interesting to see a scan of your cover for comparison. Therefore the answers to your questions are:

1. Almost certainly either backdated or fake
   
2. See above
   
3. I'll let others comment on this
   
4. I'll also leave it to others to put a value on such a cover but I certainly wouldn't pay $950 for one.

posted 03-29-2009 01:23 PM               

It's been stated that the Cape Canaveral post office was closed, but could it be that even though the customer service part of the post office was closed that postal workers were continuing to process (cancel) mail received that day? And if they were indeed backdated would these covers still be collectible if an official Cape Canaveral post office hand cancellation device was used, and if only a few covers were cancelled the next day or within several days?

Cover collectors know that, for first day covers, the First Day of Issue cancellation is used for approximately 30 days after the official first day that the stamp was available to the public, and these covers are all accepted as collectible first day covers. Also, in the case of some recovery ship covers, the ships cancellation was used even though the covers were not on the recovery ship. Once again these covers are collectible.

I understand that in the case of event covers such as the Apollo 1 fire it is highly desirable to have a cover that was definitely cancelled on the day of the event, but in this case if the best that a collector can get is a cover cancelled the next day, wouldn't it still be accepted and collectible?

That being said, I believe that what's important in this case is whether the hand cancellation device is actually from the Cape Canaveral post office and was cancelled within days of the fire. If it was, I believe that the cover is collectible; if it isn't an official cancellation device (like the "Plugged 9" Cape Canaveral hand cancellation device used on many Orbit covers or the cancellation devices used on the Riser covers), then the cover is (and should be) considered a fake and not collectible (except as an example of a fake cover). So it would be important to know if an official Cape Canaveral post office hand cancellation device was used, and, if possible, when these covers were cancelled and how many were cancelled.

By the way, I'm not trying to justify the authenticity of this cover because I have a lot invested in it (actually I didn't spend much), but, as a collector, I'm interested in knowing as much as I can about it because it is documenting a significant event in the history of the U.S. manned space program.

posted 04-22-2009 05:33 PM               

I had one way back in 1967 and sent it out to Mrs. Grissom for an autograph. Stupid me, but as a young kid, it never occurred to me (I had never, up to that time, lost a close family member or friend to death) that I might be asking for way too much.

I never saw the cover again.