posted 12-16-2019 06:23 PM               

Space Cover 543: Apollo 11 50 Year Cancels

Many space cover collectors send for/collect pictorial cancels that are typically sponsored by a postal administration, stamp clubs for stamp shows, etc. In 2019, there are large amounts of cancels created throughout the year for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Cancels have been created throughout the year with the first being a cancel from Norcross, GA at the Americover 2019 show.

Our own SCOTW contributor Chris Calle designed several of the cancels! These started with the NORPEX cancel on March 9th sponsored by the Norwalk Stamp Club, at Boxborough (Boston, MA) on May 3rd, and Cape Canaveral on July 20th.

Some shows such as NAPEX (McLean, VA) and Americover (St Louis, MO) had multiple cancels as they had a different one for each day of the show.

Pictured at the top of the post is a cover from Alameda, CA for the USS Hornet recovery as that is where the USS Hornet is currently berthed – it is dated July 20th as that was the date the Apollo 11 anniversary was celebrated aboard the ship.

This pictorial cancel from Apollo, PA was applied in red for July 20th. As you can imagine July 20 was a popular date for cancels with fifteen different cancel created across the country from Cape Canaveral to Alameda, CA and may in between including two from Colorado Springs, CO.

Pictured above is an image of the pictorial cancel sponsored by the Columbia Philatelic Society from Columbia, SC with dates of August 17 and 18.

To see images of all the cancels you can go to the USPS Postal Bulletin for 2019 and scan each bulletin's pictorial cancel section. The Postal Bulletin link is here.

There are also many pictorial cancels that were created in countries outside of the United States.

In addition, many First Day cancels around the world combine the creation of a First Day of Issue cover with a pictorial cancel cover.

Therefore, while searching through your favorite dealer's space cover boxes or in the on-line stores, take a closer look at the pictorial cancels – you just might find some of these for your collection.