posted 05-30-2026 02:01 AM               

Space Cover 860: Don Mackey space cachets

There are more than 40 SCOTWS with word CACHET in the subject and many others without the word CACHET also refer to cachets through stamp club covers with their own cachets.
It demonstrates how important the cachet is in our hobby.

Throughout all years of this section many colleagues identify with cachets, explained them and even related biographical information about their careers as cachet makers. Today, I would like to remember Don Mackey artist, who died on Dec 17, 2005, in Frederick, MD at 91.

After several years searching for Don Mackey space cachets, unfortunately for me, I was only able to get two covers with space cachets signed by Don Mackey (you can see his name at the bottom right corner of each one).

I found in a post written by Eddie Bizub that some covers produced by Bob Whitney for ASTP were designed by Don Mackey. However, his name does not appear in any part of the cachet or cover.

As you can see, both covers are overall cachets, a kind of cachet not usual then and very popular today, where many space covers come to us with an image covering all surface of the envelope and leaving no place to write address.

In opposite sense, some overall cachets combine the stamp and the postmark with the cachet itself and sometimes manage to integrate it as just another element of the whole.

In the two covers shown you can find in the cachet many types of rockets, spacecrafts, satellites, vessels and many more. Identifying every one of the drawings is a complete challenge. Do you dare?

Please, if you have more Don Mackey space cachets signed by him, we would be nice to share here with others. Thanks.

posted 05-30-2026 09:56 AM               

For mankind's first spaceflight around the moon Christmas-time 1968, Mackey did both a beautiful Christmas designed card honoring the Apollo 8 crew. In addition, Don printed smaller envelopes of that same design for philatelic uses.

Meanwhile, let me take a stab at trying to identify or name all of those images that Antoni referred to on the Gemini first day issue cover from Sept. 1967. They are from top left going down and accross:

posted 05-31-2026 02:49 PM               

There is an early Saturn 1 rocket being launched, a Gemini-Titan II vehicle, first Thor, Satellite Anna, the famous Cape Lighthouse, and more winged missiles being fired such as Bull Goose, Mace, and Snark.

posted 06-03-2026 02:41 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
...Mackey did both a beautiful Christmas designed card honoring the Apollo 8 crew. In addition, Don printed smaller envelopes of that same design for philatelic uses.

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