posted 03-24-2016 07:07 AM               

First of all, according the HCAD website, which collects taxes for Houston and all communities within Harris County where JSC is located, Karl Henize took possession of the house at that address on 1/2/1986. Is there a chance it sat in Henize's house for almost 16 years before he decided to stamp his address on it?

Secondly, the Mercury stamps on the cover were issued in 1962. The price to mail a 1 ounce letter went up to 5 cents on January 7, 1963, which would have rendered the stamp on the cover virtually useless in 1970. It makes me wonder how the NASA MSC Stamp Club assembled and printed these covers. Could they have put the stamps on blank covers back in 1962 and printed the current mission's emblem on some of those old covers? Of course, they could have still been printing those Mercury stamps in 1970, but I don't think the USPS prints stamps for more than a few years, if that long.

posted 03-24-2016 08:36 AM               

He would prepare his own covers — purchase them from the MSCSC and applied his own postage stamps on them — and later getting the covers with the proper postal cancels.

Perhaps he wanted to see if the KSC postal department would machine cancel two of the 4-cent Project Mercury stamps together in order to only have space-themed stamps in use. Sometimes cover and stamp collectors do things like this as I have done for many space philatelic events. Just wanted to try something different for their collections, I am thinking, as it was only a 6-cent postage rate in Apr. 1970 for a first class letter.

Using any other prior space-stamp issues, so long as they equal or go over the required first class postage rate, is just fine by me.

posted 03-24-2016 12:38 PM               

For the reason above, that’s why I remain extremely cautious when adding items like this to my collection. I only purchase from what I feel to be very reliable sources, many of which are active members here on cS. Although I don’t think that authenticity is in question here, all I can add to the debate is that the primary reason I decided to purchase this piece is the fact that its direct origin is from the astronaut’s estate itself being offered through a highly regarded major auction house, and vetted by a well known figure in the space collectibles market, Gregg Linebaugh, who I have dealt with many times before. Strangely enough, my secondary reason for purchasing this particular piece is that I found it aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I think Mr. Henize hit this one right on the mark when he assembled it.

posted 03-24-2016 02:35 PM               

Being an astronaut obviously aided Henize in getting the entire crew to sign after their flight, as the same type of cover discussed here exists with Ken Mattingly's signature as the original CMP, with Swigert added later. See the thread in the cS Stamps and Covers topic Space Cover of the Week 51 from 2010.

posted 03-25-2016 12:27 PM               

Back in 1990 or 1991 a group of us Space Unit folks got together in Houston and had Karl come speak. After the meeting, Karl hung around for our trade session, had a beer, and made some trades for STS-51F covers that he didn't have in his collection.