Space Cover 775: Bow Wow Local PostJust the name brought a smile to my face when I found these covers.
I have collected Local Post covers ever since my space cover collecting began. They have always interested me with their unique subjects and sometimes quirky images. I have many of the Doc's Local Post covers produced by R.E. Nichol, and a nice collection of Local Post covers produced by Robert Rank. I really enjoy the Rank covers where he has combined two or more topical subjects. His John F. Kennedy space Local Post covers come to mind. Detroit Michigan cachetmaker Hideaki Nakano also produced many interesting Local Post covers with space themes.
Unfortunately I don't have any information on the origins of Bow Wow Local Post but I would venture a guess that someone here will!
Arf! Arf! To the Moon! The first cover is cancelled at Kennedy Space Center, FL with a nice pictorial postmark on the launch date of Apollo 17, Dec. 7, 1972. On each of the three covers our friendly little dog and an Apollo spacecraft are depicted on an 8-cent Bow Wow Local Post "cancelled" in BALTO, MD. The cover is addressed to Leonard I. Sandler of Baltimore, MD. Perhaps Leonard is the creator of the Bow Wow Local Post covers? Is the BALTO cancel a reference to Balto the dog who gained fame in the 1930's as a sled dog in Alaska? He did belong to a musher and breeder with the first name Leonhard. The possible connection is probably a stretch but interesting nonetheless.
The second cover is cancelled in Moon, KY Dec. 11, 1972, the date of the landing on the moon by astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.
The third cover is cancelled at Cape Canaveral FL on the date of the splashdown, December 19, 1972. The back side of the two covers (launch and splashdown) resemble rubber stamp cachet images we have seen before and are very similar to the type seen on the back of some of the Doc's Local Post covers.
About five years ago I showed one of the covers to Gene Cernan, and as dog lover I told him he should have brought a dog to the moon. He smiled and sort of laughed and said, "What is this Calle!" He liked the cover... and the idea...
The most interesting Bow Wow Local Post cover I came across recently on the internet was celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the French "Pussy Cat" Felix's trip to space. The story goes that in 1963 the French government gathered 14 cats to undergo training for a future spaceflight. One of these "astro-cats," a feline named Felicette who it was said had been a stray found walking the streets Paris, was selected and launched on October 18, 1965 in a special capsule on top of a French Veronique rocket. Electrodes had been attached to her head and body and two microphones monitored her breathing. After the nose cone was separated from the rocket she experienced five minutes of weightlessness, parachutes deployed purrfectly and she was recovered safely, making her the first cat in space.
Postage stamps have been issued worldwide commemorating Felicette's flight. After the flight the media dubbed the cat "Felix the Cat" after the cartoon character from the silent film era.
Another cover I find curious and I am sure someone here can weigh in on the answer, is a Fort Meyers Florida FMF Local Post which seems to be possibly produced by Joe Frasketi encouraging the collecting of space covers. This cover depicts a astronaut mailman with the slogan — Collect Space Covers! The Far Out Mail Man. I love this!
I have come across a few other Bow Wow Local Post covers, one celebrating poet Emily Dickingson and Abraham Lincoln, another honoring Missouri's favorite son Harry S. Truman, and one showcasing the Westminster Kennel Club "Show of Champions." While not a cover Bow Wow Local Post one cent stamp depicting a German Shepard.
I'm sure there are others out there, let me know if you come across any!
posted 10-13-2024 04:37 PM
advertisement