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  Space Cover 470: Rarest Little Joe cover?

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Author Topic:   Space Cover 470: Rarest Little Joe cover?
Eddie Bizub
Member

Posts: 81
From: Kissimmee, FL USA
Registered: Aug 2010

posted 06-10-2018 04:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eddie Bizub   Click Here to Email Eddie Bizub     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Space Cover of the Week, Week 470, June 10, 2018

Space Cover #470: The rarest Mercury Little Joe cover?

To protect the Mercury astronauts in the event of a booster failure during launch, an escape system was developed for the Mercury spacecraft. It consisted of a tower attached to the top of the spacecraft that would fire a small rocket motor to pull the spacecraft away from the booster in the event of a failure.

In order to test the system under actual conditions, NASA developed the Little Joe rocket. The Little Joe would launch from Wallops Island, Virginia and the escape system would be tested during actual flight conditions. I won't go into the details of the Little Joe booster or the escape system but instead focus on the rarity of the covers produced to commemorate these launches.

There were a total of eight Mercury Little Joe launches between August 1959 and April 1961. As far as I know, covers exist for six of the eight launches.

Covers are available for the final three launches of LJ-5 (11-8-60), LJ-5A (3-18-61) and LJ-5B (4-28-61). These are fairly common and usually do not command a high price.

Covers are also available for two earlier flights. LJ-2 (12-4-59) carried the monkey Sam and LJ-1A (1-21-60) carried the monkey Miss Sam. Covers for these flights are available but are harder to come by and do command a higher price. Goldcraft Covers produced cachets for these two flights that are quite attractive and highly sought after.

This brings us to the first three Little Joe flights. In over 40 years of collecting I have never seen or heard of covers being produced for LJ-1 (8-21-59) or LJ-6 (10-4-59). However, there are at least a couple of covers that exist for LJ-1A (11-4-59).

The cover pictured above currently resides in my collection and is one of only two that I have seen for this flight. I acquired this about 15 years ago from the collection of Richard Learn. Dick had told me that he acquired the cover from Bob Boudwin and was previously in the personal collection of William B. Hudson who was the postmaster at Wallops Island in Virginia and produced the covers. The only other example of this cover I have seen belonged to Dr. Ben Ramkissoon.

The cover is exceedingly rare and I'm sure is on almost everyone's want list. It certainly earns the title of the rarest Mercury Little Joe cover. Unless of course anyone has covers for the LJ-1 or LJ-6 launches. If you have covers for either of these launches or have yet another example of the above pictured LJ-1A cover please let us know. We'd love to see it!

Antoni RIGO
Member

Posts: 176
From: Palma de Mallorca, Is. Baleares - SPAIN
Registered: Aug 2013

posted 06-10-2018 05:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Antoni RIGO   Click Here to Email Antoni RIGO     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Superb cover, and a piece of astronautical history too. Thanks Eddie for sharing it with others.

micropooz
Member

Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 06-10-2018 07:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for micropooz   Click Here to Email micropooz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Wow, Eddie! I had heard that there were covers for the 11/4/59 Little Joe, but had never seen one until now. Thanks!

Hope this thread surfaces some more...

NAAmodel#240
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Posts: 312
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 06-10-2018 02:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NAAmodel#240   Click Here to Email NAAmodel#240     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Rarest cover I have ever seen. Tried to tear it out of Eddie's grip in Florida without success. Name your price!

randyc
Member

Posts: 779
From: Chandler, AZ USA
Registered: May 2003

posted 06-10-2018 03:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for randyc   Click Here to Email randyc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A bit off-topic but would the Spacecraft-Swanson limited edition cover for Gus Grissom's mission be considered rare? I know there were 50 made in 1961 but the first time I saw one was in the late 1980s and I've seen only one other one since then. Although all 50 may be in collections it's possible that over the last 57 years there may be less than 50 that have survived.

Eddie Bizub
Member

Posts: 81
From: Kissimmee, FL USA
Registered: Aug 2010

posted 06-10-2018 06:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eddie Bizub   Click Here to Email Eddie Bizub     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Swanson/Space Craft cover known as the Grissom Airmail can be considered rare as there were only around 50 printed. However, the cover really only appeals to a very narrow collecting group.

For collectors of Space Craft Covers, the Grissom Airmail is highly sought after and is a prized cover for those of us lucky to have one. However, the general space collector isn't willing to pay the high dollar amount for the cover as they are able to pick up any number of Grissom launch covers for very reasonable prices.

The above Little Joe cover appeals to a much broader collecting group. Anyone compiling covers for all the Project Mercury launches absolutely needs this cover to complete their collection. If in fact only a small handful of these Little Joe covers exist it will be near impossible for most space cover collectors to own one. To me, that means rare.

Antoni RIGO
Member

Posts: 176
From: Palma de Mallorca, Is. Baleares - SPAIN
Registered: Aug 2013

posted 06-11-2018 01:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Antoni RIGO   Click Here to Email Antoni RIGO     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In philately, and in astrophilately too, the concept of rarity is how hard to get a cover is.

Although normally rare covers mean also expensive prices, this is not a correct relation. We all know expensive covers that are not rare, just expensive. It is possible to acquiry that cover for a lot of money at any time.

However, rare covers are hard to get, even if someone is willing to pay a fortune. Otherwise, they are rare covers that are cheap only because they are not very sought after.

In summary, rare contains the idea of few items (similar to term scarce) meanwhile rare and expensive are linked if the item is very sought after; if not, the item keeps rare but not expensive.

An example of rare but not expensive could be some tracking covers printed/produced in low quantity but not sought after (maybe because they are unkown for most of collectors or maybe because the topic is really specific).

See my Istres cover in SCOTW nr. 381. This is a rare cover bought for less than 5 dollars. Rare, yes. Expensive, no.

astrobv
Member

Posts: 53
From: Geraardsbergen, Belgium
Registered: May 2014

posted 06-11-2018 11:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for astrobv   Click Here to Email astrobv     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
WOW, never seen before.

Name your price, but David asked it already. No luck I think.

NAAmodel#240
Member

Posts: 312
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 06-13-2018 03:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NAAmodel#240   Click Here to Email NAAmodel#240     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In correspondence with Eddie he has agreed to sell. First certified bank check for $1M gets it.

thisismills
Member

Posts: 263
From: Michigan
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 06-29-2018 05:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for thisismills   Click Here to Email thisismills     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Found a photo for another of these covers, so there are at least a couple out there. Based on the addresses, these guys were neighbors... wonder if anyone else on the street got one.

Eddie Bizub
Member

Posts: 81
From: Kissimmee, FL USA
Registered: Aug 2010

posted 06-29-2018 06:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eddie Bizub   Click Here to Email Eddie Bizub     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Its probably addressed to a relative of Wallops Island Postmaster William B. Hudson. Though my cover is not addressed to a Hudson, I'm sure there is some connection to the postmaster. I believe this is the same cover that was owned by Dr. Ben Ramkissoon. It still leaves the known quantity of existing covers at 2. Any others out there somewhere?

thisismills
Member

Posts: 263
From: Michigan
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 06-29-2018 07:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for thisismills   Click Here to Email thisismills     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Eddie Bizub:
I believe this is the same cover that was owned by Dr. Ben Ramkissoon.

Thanks for confirming, I'll keep my eyes out for any others I come across.

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