This section is designed to highlight particularly interesting covers, especially those that have recently been sold on eBay or in another auction.
Previous Interesting Covers
Page 1
Sale of Large Collection of Early Space Covers Continues
Spaceflori has been selling a wonderful collection (the Ulrich Loeffler Space collection) on eBay over the last couple of months. Amongst many early and rare Space covers are an amazing range of early and sometimes unique Recovery Ship covers. Some of them have been illustrated previously. The lastest offerings include an equally wonderful range of Recovery Ship covers. As previously mentioned these have brought high prices recently with a number of serious bidders for most items. However, this time, the picture was mixed. The extremely rare covers still brought high prices while the more common covers with unusual cachets brought solid prices. However, quite a few of the moderately rare covers went cheaply and thus there were a number of bargins. Examples include a number of Captain's covers which brought 1/4 or less than I expected, a very nice MA-9 PRS cover with the black cachet and signed by the Captain (a surprisingly hard cover to find) sold for a low $19.50 and a rare Gemini 5 Beck Crew cover sold for only $13.40, a real steal!! Below I've shown some of the rarer covers.
This suspect MR-3 USS Lake Champlain (the postmark appears to be offset printed) sold for $241.50
This classic MR-3 USS Lake Champlain Riser fake sold for $118.35
This very rare MOL USS La Salle Reurn to Port cover sold for $178.50
This extremely rare (first one seen) MR-3 USS Newman K. Perry cover sold for $141.50 even though it had an extremely late postmark!
This very nice Gemini 11 Captain's cover signed by various people was the only Captain's cover to do well. It sold for $217.50
This nice Gemini 7 PRS cover with both a Navy and a ship's cachet sold for $130.50. Note that the date is actually the Gemini 6A recovery date!
This amazing cover is from the USS Eaton, postmarked just a few days after being part of the Recovery Force for MR-1A. No covers are known with an earlier date! In fact no other covers are known from this mission!! Along with a 1946 USS Valley Forge cover it sold for $161.50.
This was the surprise packet of the lot when it sold for $131.50, despite being a standard Beck printed SRS cover with a signature of theship's Captain and another officer. Again, covers with signatures are bringing good prices.
More Rare Covers from a Different Source on eBay (gabi-2311)
Another signed Apollo 12 NASA Recovery Team cover sold for $394!
This very nice classic MR-3 Riser fake (7c air mail postal stationary & addressed to H. Flick) sold for $152.
Another Riser fake, this time from MR-4 sold for $303!
And still another Riser fake, a MA-5, sold for $146.50
A Great Skylab 4 Cover
This great Skylab 4 cover signed by 13 members of UDT-12 sold for Euro 76.50 on eBay
Two More Covers
This MA-6 USS Randolph cover signed by Glenn sold on eBay for $270.50
This very nice Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain cover with dual postmarks sold on eBay for $43
A Rare Cover Sold on eBay
This rare MR-2 USS Warrington cover sold on eBay for $255
A Couple more Covers from eBay
This signed Secondary Recover Ship cover sold for a surprising price (for a SRS cover) of $88
This PRS cover with an unusual cachet sold for a solid $37
A Captain's Cover
This GT-7 Captain's cover on a lond envelope sold for $81.50
A Classic Cover Brings a Lowish Price
This classic MR-3 USS Lake Champlain plus 3 Riser fake covers sold in a Regency Superior auction for a relatively low $850 + 20% buyer's fee! Much less than recent sales on eBay. Are the very high buyer/seller costs imposed by Auction houses turning sellers of items like covers to other avenues such as eBay?
More High Prices on eBay
This Helicopter Recovery Cover signed by the pilot sold for $113.50
This wonderful Captain's cover not only has the Executive Officer's corner card but is also signed by the E.O., the commanding Officer and the main REcovery Helicopter pilot! It sold for $200.50.
This nice Apollo 201 PRS cover on a wide envelope sold for an amazing $164.35!
This nice MA-9 PRS cover signed by the Commanding Officer sold for $117.39
This Gemini 2 PRS cover on a wide envelope sold for an amazing $188.50!
This previously unknown Beck B759 USS Essex cover signed by Don Eisele sold for $105.18.
This signed ASTP PRS postcard sold for $87.
More eBay Sales
This unusual Captain's cover (it includes a blue Navy cachet) sold for $108.50
This very unusual Gemini 7 cover includes a ship's cachet as well as the usual Navy cachet. In addition the ship's cachet is maroon rather than the usual black! It sold for $69.
This Gemini 2 Beck Crew cover sold for $63. It probably would have sold for more except that 2 similar covers have been sold on eBay during the last 12 months or so.
The One That Got Away
Most collectors know that feeling. You place what you think is a good bid on a rare item and wait. At the last moment someone outbids you. It really was worth a bit more, you think! If only you had bid a bit higher! Look at the lot of 5 MA-6 covers below. What do you think they are worth? $60? $80? $120? Look again. There are 3 extremely rare covers (I made the mistake of only noticing two). I therefore bid $254 and was outbid with seconds to go. The sale price was $259. And yes, I know, I should have bid more!!
Signed Gemini Covers
Over 20 signed Gemini Recovery SHip covers were recently sold on eBay. While a few brough low prices, the majority brought very good prices. Below are a sample of those.
This rare signed Gemini 4 cover sold for $47
This equally rare Gemini 5 cover signed by 4 UDT team members sold for $49
This nice signed Gemini 6a cover sold for $57
This signed Gemini 7 cover sold for $57
This signed Gemini 7 cover sold for $43. Notice the maroon ship's cachet on the back instead of the more common black cachet.
High Prices for Astronaut Signed Covers
This wonderful cover, is not only signed by the two Astronauts and recovery personnel, but it also contains the Commanding Officer's corner card and signature. It sold for $281!
This MA-9 cover signed by Cooper sold for $141.50.
Some more eBay Covers
This early Gemini PRS cover signed by the CO sold for $69
This USS Ozark Beck Crew cover signed by the Commander of TF140 sold for $48
This non-postmarked cover is signed by the Commanding Officer of the PRS. It sold for $38
This PRS cover signed by the CO sold for $34
This nice MA-6 USS Enterprise postcard sold for $39
More High Prices on eBay
This extremely rare MA-5 USS Stormes cover sold for $416! Note that only one cover is known with the actual date. This is one of a small number known dated Dec 9 which may be the return to port date.
This cover sold for an amazing $213.50!! This is despite the fact that the USS Strong was not involved in MR-4!
This late postmarked MR-3 USS Lake Champlain cover sold for $326.
This printing error on a MA-7 cover sold for $116.50
This is one of the two rarest of the STS-51L covers. It sold for $89
More Covers on eBay
This cover signed by Buzz Aldrin and others sold for $136.50
This cover dated for the MR-BD mission (no Recovery Force) and thus commemorative only sold for $81!
This cover from a ship not involved in the MR-2 mission sold for $79.30!
Captain's Cover and Other Interesting Stuff
This Apollo 17 Captain's cover with the rare Dec 20 postmark sold on eBay for $166.50
This Apollo 15 Captain's cover sold on eBay for $172.50
This Apollo 15 Captain's cover sold on eBay for $152.50
A second example of this cover in recent months sold for $89
This very nice hand painted cover sold for an amazing $160.49!!
More Interesting Sales from eBay
A classic MR-3 USS Lake Champlain cover sold for $997 which shows a return to more normal pricing from the dizzy heights of earlier in the year.
An Apollo 10 Captain's cover sold for $224.50
An unusual cover carried aboard the USCGC Dallas sold for the very good price of $172!
A major discovery of the first USS Hassayampa cover from GTA-9 sold for $261
Amazing Price Paid for a Beck Cover on eBay
This unique Beck cover sold for an amazing $260!! This confirms the trend of rare covers bringing high prices.
Three More Covers from eBay
This very nice Apollo 17 Captain's Cover with an additional Navy cachet sold for $136
This Unusual Apollo 14 USS New Orleans cover sold for $57
This Beck B706 cover with a scarce hand cancel sold for $43
More eBay Sales
This very nice cover signed by 11 members of the UDT team sold for $66
This hard to find Beck cover sold for $37
eBay Prices Come Down from Previous Highs
This Riser fake MR-4 cover sold for $231.49 which was a significant decrease on the price paid earlier ($303) in the year for what appears to be the same cover (see above)
These two very nice Beck Crew covers sold for a solid price of $186.50. Note that the top one is even rarer than the bottom one.
This Gemini 2 PRS cover with a red cachet sold for $82.50 which again was significantly lower than a similar cover which sold earlier in the year for $188.50 (see above)
This very nice Gemini 7 PRS cover with two cachets sold for $53.99 which again was much lower than a similar cover which sold earlier in the year for $130.50 (see above)
More eBay Sales
A very nice and rare MA-5 cover from the USS Vogelgesang (only third one seen) sold for $259.
A great Skylab 4 cover signed by 12 members of the recovery team sold for $108.49
This Apollo 12 NASA Recovery Team cover sold for $57
High Price Paid on eBay for Rare Cover
This rare Mercury-Redstone 4 cover sold for an amazing $359!
Fakes For Sale
This Riser fake MOL (noted as such) sold on eBay for $123.50
This second Riser fake MOL (noted as such) sold on eBay for $75
This Gemini 12 fake (noted as such) sold on eBay for $42
Further eBay Sales
After spirited bidding by several buyers these two Apollo 17 PRS covers signed by Recovery Team members sold for $97
This Apollo 12 PRS cover with rare dual postmarks (a machine cancel for Apollo 11 and a hand cancel for Apollo 12) sold to a lucky buyer for $77
This MA-6 USS Randolph cover sold for $71
This very hard to find training cover sold for $31, quite a bargin.
This page © Dr Ross J Smith
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Last modified on 15 December 2013
