posted 07-30-2018 12:14 PM               

Space Cover #476: Suspect Space Cover Cancels

Two Prime Recovery Ship (PRS) covers from the USS Iwo Jima for the recovery of Apollo 13 are shown here. The top is a standard Beck cover. The one below appears to be a standard Navy Rubber Stamped Cacheted cover, but something is wrong with it.

I noticed it immediately when I pulled it out of a box of duplicates that then-Space Unit member, Dawn Petersen had back in 1992. It has no killer bars. Additionally, the postmark itself is a grayish ink as opposed to the black ink used on the Beck cover.

I showed it to Ben Ramkissoon shortly thereafter and suggested to him that it appeared to be a phony cancel. He told me that he had been good friends with the two doctors, who were both deceased and didn't believe that they would do anything like that. But about 8 to 10 months later, he advised me that he had seen some other suspicious looking covers with the same corner card, and reluctantly told me that he thought that these were faked.

Does anyone else have any strange looking cancels or cachets with this same corner card? I'd like to know what else might be out there.