Morris W. Beck US Navy Covers
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Copyright ©2000-2024 Owen R Murray. All Rights Reserved. Revised:
Sunday December 17, 2023.
A Resource and Blog for Collectors of
Morris W. Beck Philatelic Covers.
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Beck CREW Covers-Some Unlisted
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Beck CREW Covers-Some Unlisted
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   This is an insert found in a Beck state cover. See more information about this series HERE. Scans courtesy of Don Hensley
Sold for $28.50 on eBay
This cover shows a great example of the small
round cachet that Mr. Beck designed. He applied the cachet to
envelopes at collectors request, after a space flight. He also
sold sets of the rubber stamp cachets to a few dealers. We have no
idea how many were applied, especially given the fact that sets of
the rubber stamps still exist.
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Interesting Covers and Additions
This interesting cover does not have Mr.
Beck's name printed on it but we are pretty certain he did produce
this cover. It uses a very similar cachet artwork as the
1951-2 and 1956-7 statehood series.
Many times when collectors used more than one stamp on the covers, the post office cancels the stamps again. In this case, the Boston post office added the 7 April cancel on both B747 and B748 covers. The extra cancel may distract from the cover's appearance but it also helps to add some postal history to the routing of the cover. These two covers are shown here courtesy of Dr R J Smith.
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 The only one we have observed. This scan is from the collectspace.com web. |
Apollo 8 USS Yorktown with Return to Port Cancel
This cover is probably unique. It has the return to port date on a Beck cachet that was designated for USS Guadalcanal.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/000934.html
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Apollo 8 PRS USS Yorktown with Hand Cancel
This #10 (business size) envelope was sold on eBay for over $60. It has the Yorktown hand cancel which has not been seen on a Beck printed cover.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Unusual Space Cover for AS 501-Norfolk, VA
Dr. Ross Smith sent us the scan at left of a previously unlisted space cover. It is postmarked for AS 501 in Norfolk, VA. November 14 1967
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  Scans from eBay
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eBay Prices High for GT-2 CREW Covers
The two CREW covers shown at left were sold as a set on eBay for a price of $186.50. We have seen other similar CREW covers, but these are VERY desirable and valuable covers for your collection. See all the Beck GT-2 covers, HERE
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Apollo 12 USS Hawkins CREW Cover
Thanks goes to Dr. Ross J Smith for sending us this scan of a very nice autographed Apollo 12 CREW cover. It has the autographs of the flight crew plus Al Worden. The crew consisted of Alan Bean, Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon. A great addition to any Beck/Space collection. |
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Gemini 9 Cover Beck 652 Previously Unlisted Thanks goes to Dr. Ross J Smith for sending us this scan of a cover we have not seen before. It is addressed to W R Skelley, Jr. Search on this site for other references to Skelley. He really obtained some great and unique covers.
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Gemini 9 Cover Postmarked Honolulu Hawaii
Thanks goes to W. Magnus and Tom Steiner for
sending us this scan for the Beck site. This cover is probably unique and was
postmarked two days after the recovery. Evidently, the
Honolulu PO noticed that the cover was not postmarked on the USS
Epperson, and applied the local Honolulu machine cancel. This
is only our speculation. No one knows for sure. |
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Amazing Price Paid for
Apollo 7 Launch Cover This Beck cachet B761 cover was postmarked on the launch date of Apollo 7 at KSC. Perhaps a "one-of-a-kind". Successful bidder paid $260 for this great cover.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Apollo 10 USS Ozark CREW With VIP Label Dr. Smith was the successful bidder for this elusive Apollo 10 USS Ozark CREW cover. This cover has the "desirable" VIP label. Final bid price was $70. The value and demand for these CREW covers continues to increase.
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 A new variety has been added to B801 and B802 listings |
Another Apollo 11 Postmark Variety Identified Enough evidence and examples are available to support the listing of another postmark for Apollo 11. See the example shown at the left. You will see that the AM or PM time slug is missing. Thanks goes to Dr. Ross Smith, Steve Durst and Lee Kok How for supplying supporting information for this important Beck cover.
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Dr. Ross Smith recently purchased a lot of covers that contained a very interesting MA-9 cover postmarked at Jacksonville, FL instead of USS Myles C. Fox. Mr. Beck sent the printed/cacheted envelopes to the US Navy to the attention of USS Myles C Fox. The cover shown should have been postmarked on the ship but somehow it got into the mail without a postmark and the post office in Jacksonville applied their postmark. There are a variety of dates shown on the many MA-9 covers. The date on this cover is a bit unclear. Only one digit is clear, the 1. In any case, this is likely a unique cover and was previously unlisted.
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Apollo 16 Cachets Show Many Options Mr. Beck made the Apollo 16 B880 and B881 cachets available to various collectors and dealers well ahead of the space flight. As a result, the dealers or collectors added postage and then sent the cacheted envelopes to various locations for postmarking. The cover shown at left shows the launch date. |
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USS Iwo Jima LPH-2, Apollo 13 Postmarks There are three varieties listed for B838 USS Iwo Jima the Prime Recovery Ship for Apollo 13.
1. B838 Ships name is at top of cancel, Date is NOT skewed. Shown at left (top) 2. B838 Ships name is at Bottom of cancel, Date IS skewed. Shown at left (bottom) Probably the most common cancel used on Beck Apollo 13 covers. 3. B838 Ships name is at Bottom of cancel, Date is NOT skewed. Not shown here. Go to listing HERE
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Set of 3 Boxer GTA-8 Covers Fetch $126.50 The group of 3 covers shown at left sold for $126.50 on eBay. The B639 cover is the important one in this group. It was previously unlisted.
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  Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Beck B873 PRS Apollo 15 "Matched Set" Scans for a real nice set of Beck covers for Apollo 15 was sent to us from Dr. Smith. Both covers are signed by the Commanding Officer, Capt. Andrew F. Huff. Note that the covers have different hand postmarks. One has the ship's name at the top of the cancel and the other cover has the ship's name at the bottom of the cancel.
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 Scans courtesy W Magnus |
Beck
Previously Unlisted B529 Gemini 3 Beck B529 cover postmarked on Harold J Ellison has been identified. The Ellison cancel is on several other Beck numbers but has been "unlisted" on B529 until now.
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Beck Previously Unlisted CREW B535 Gemini 4 This Beck B535 CREW cover postmarked on USS Ponchatoula AO-148 is the first one we have observed and was previously unlisted. See other GT-4 covers HERE
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Beck Previously Unlisted St Louis B536 Gemini 4 An unusual cover for GT-4 B536 postmarked at St Louis. Probably a one-of-a-kind.
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Beck B563 Gemini 5 A nice cover for GT-5 B536 postmarked on USS Dupont. The airmail border adds much interest.
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Beck B592 Gemini 6 A nice cover for GT-6 B592 postmarked In Jamaica, NY. This is similar to a cover we show in the listings but it has a different cancellation. AM vs PM. |
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Beck
Previously Unlisted B759 USS Essex Beck B759 cachet for USS Essex is a new find to the site. Note that the cover shown at the left has a VIP label that we see on some very hard to find covers and especially on CREW covers that were sent to Space Industry VIPs. Sold for $105.18 on eBay. Autograph is Donn Eisele, Apollo 7
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Beck
Previously Unlisted USS Missouri Launching This is the first hand cancel we have seen for this cover/event.
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Beck
Cachet's Continue to Bring Top Dollar Reader and collector Greg Ciesielski sent us a scan of B724 covers with a cachet variety that we haven't noticed before. We have updated our listing. Thanks Greg. Note the position of the Beck number on each cachet. This likely occurred if Mr. Beck did an additional printing of the covers after the original batch was printed. We reviewed Mr. Beck's printing log for 724 to see if there was a note about multiple printings. There wasn't any note. The scans at left show a lighter color for the background but we believe that the backgrounds are the same and the scan just looks different.
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Check out Dr. Smith's of Recent Prices Paid
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Beck
Cachet's Continue to Bring Top Dollar Below: This previously unlisted prime recovery ship cover is a real prize! It sold for $93. Beck B611.
Below: A good example of Beck's 1946 Navy Day series.
Below: USS Wasp GT-4 Beck CREW cover. Sold for an amazing $228.50.
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Beck
Cachet's Continue to Bring Top Dollar Below: An excellent example of the scarce Mason GTA-8 cover on B630. It sold for about $80 on eBay.
Below: Autographed Apollo 9
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Beck
Cachet's Continue to Bring Top Dollar The covers shown here were sold as a lot on eBay. The lot sold for $188.50 after 8 bids. Two of these covers are of special note. First the USS Fletcher cover is a previously unlisted CREW cover. The second cover of special note is the B317 USS Duncan. A very rare cover and only the second one we have seen.
Note that this lot was sold by a major space cover dealer in Europe. There was a lot of interest in this lot and other recent lots which indicates that Beck and space covers continue to be a strong market. |
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 Apollo 11 cover with Aldrin's autograph sold for $188.50
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Beck
Cachet's Bring Top Dollar on eBay Here are several examples of Beck cachets bringing top dollar on eBay. The autographs on these covers created a lot of interest in the covers.
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Beck
Cachet "342" USS Corry CREW MA-9 Another important Beck CREW cover sold today on eBay. This is the first CREW cover we have observed from MA-9 from USS Corry. Selling price was $78 for a lot of 3 covers. The other two covers were "average" value MA-9 covers which emphasizes the importance and value of this Corry cover.
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Beck
Cachet "323" USS Kearsarge CREW MA-9 This Beck CREW cover is the second one we have seen. It also has the CO's autograph. This very desirable cover sold on eBay for $124.50. We designate this CREW cover as being under B323 because Mr. Beck allocated "323" for the Kearsarge while printing the cachets. The Kearsarge cancel is seen on another Beck cachet, the B317. If you watch eBay, you will notice that some very desirable US space covers come out of Europe or are addressed to collectors in Europe. This cover is another example.
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 sScan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith
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Beck
652 GTA-9 Dual Cancel This Beck 652 GTA-9 has an extra cancel. We normally only see the hand cancel from the ship. The machine cancel is Norfolk, VA on June 7.
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Beck
Printing Test This Beck printing test envelope recently sold for $77 on eBay. This "oddity" is very unusual and desirable for the serious Beck collector.
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 Beck GTA-6 PRS CREW cover sold for $81 on eBay |
GTA-6 USS Wasp, PRS CREW Cover $81 on eBay This great CREW cover sold on eBay for $81. See Beck B584 in the listings. There seems to be a lot of interest in Beck space covers these days as shown by the prices realized at auction.
Click HERE
to read more about this Gemini mission and the abort that took place. Thanks goes to Randy Constantin for providing the mission timeline.
October 25,1965 - Launch scrubbed due to failure of the Agena
docking target to reach orbit. |
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 Sold by "seanspace" on eBay $62.76
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USS Boxer GTA-8 Covers The cover shown at the left is a recent lot from eBay as reported by Dr. Ross J Smith. The GTA-8 cover was sold by Sean Marsar on eBay. Sean is a well-respected space cover dealer. This lot is of the GREEN cachet of the Beck design. Click here for more details about these covers. The following text is from the eBay description:RARE GEMINI 8 SCHEDULED PRIME RECOVERY SHIP, USS BOXER RARE HAND CANCEL GREEN CACHET-I THINK THAT THIS IS A BECK CREW CACHETED COVER-- -Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) was the sixth manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required immediate abort of the mission. The crew was returned to Earth safely. The only other time this happened was on the flight of Apollo 13. Because the early abort of the mission the Leonard Mason had to pick up the astronauts instead of the designated USS Boxer. Covers from the Mason are obviously much rarer. It was the twelfth manned American flight and the twenty-second manned spaceflight of all time (including X-15 flights over 100 kilometres (62 mi)). Command pilot Neil Armstrong's flight marked the second time a U.S. civilian flew into space (Joseph Albert Walker became the first US civilian on X-15 Flight 90[1][2]). Armstrong had retired from the United States Navy in 1960. The Soviet Union had launched the first civilian, Valentina Tereshkova (also the first woman) aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963 |
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Scan is courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen from eBay
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Beck Applied the Round Space Rubber Stamp After Space Flights to Any Cover Sent to Him by Collectors...Beck also sold the Rubber Stamps to collectors or dealers. Note the small maroon, red or blue rubber stamp that was applied to collector's envelopes after the space flight was over. Collectors wishing to have this rubber stamp applied to covers, sent their covers with SASE to Mr. Beck. Mr. Beck applied the rubber stamp and returned the covers to the collectors using their SASE. Mr. Beck offered this service to all space collectors who wanted it applied to their covers. Beck would apply the rubber stamp to other cachet maker's envelopes if the collector sent him the cover after the flight. Because the small rubber stamps contain specific flight details we know that these small rubber stamps were applied after the space flight and not before. Mr. Beck started applying/selling the rubber stamps with GT-3. We have seen different rubber stamps specifically for these missions: Gemini 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. AS-201, AS-202 and AS-501. We don't think Mr. Beck kept any records of how many covers he applied this small rubber stamp to, but it must be a small number for each flight. We also now know that Mr. Beck sold the small rubber stamps to some collectors and dealers that wanted to apply the design to their own covers. We are aware of at least one dealer still owning the rubber stamps. That means that there are many covers with this added design and that not all were applied by Mr. Beck. NEW Small Rubber Stamps on Space Covers
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      Scans courtesy of Larry Johnson |
Additions to Beck Site Always Welcome Thanks goes to Larry Johnson for sending us the scans shown at the left. Some interesting covers. B895 with both the MC and HC was previously unlisted. The Apollo 202 has some nice Harry Gordon additions. The South Carolina CREW cover is same as B939 but without the number, making it a CREW cover.
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 This GREEN B625 was part of an eBay lot won by Dr Ross Smith. This covers might be unique and is the first B625 postmarked on USS Boxer we have seen.
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Who is W R Skelley, Jr? Readers
Share Thoughts Over the past several years, we have seen many Beck CREW covers addressed to W R Skelley, Jr. We assumed he was a PIO or Postal Clerk during the Gemini space recoveries. He managed to get a hold of a lot of the Beck CREW covers and addressed them to himself. One is shown at left. Skelley likely had access to some of the covers sent to the US Navy for the recovery ships by Mr. Beck. See an article by Dr Ross Smith. Click HERE |
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Unusual Cancel Variety for USS New.
Missing DD Take a look at the USS New cancel on this Apollo 13 recovery cover. Note that the cancel does not have the usual "DD". We have looked in our collections and we only know of two examples. Dr Smith and Tom Steiner each have one like the scan shown at left. Please check your collections to see if you have a cover with the same cancel. Let us know.
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   Scans courtesy of Paul Huber
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Previously Unlisted 1962 Beck Covers Added Scans of several previously unlisted 1962 covers were added to our Beck cover Web site. The scans were sent to us by former Sub CO and well-known cover and postcard dealer, Paul Huber. Paul can be contacted at Fairwinds
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 Morris W Beck President Birth Cachets  Morris W Beck President Death Cachets .jpg) Morris W Beck "Generic" President Cachets Scan is courtesy of Don Hensley
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Newly Added Beck President Cachets In the 50's and early 60's, Mr. Beck printed cachets honoring the presidents of the United States. There were at least three cachet series. Birth dates, Death dates and a "generic" but similar cachet. The three series that we have observed are shown at left. Note how the main difference is the top or title of the cachet. A big thanks goes to Don Hensley for sending us the generic scans to add to our site.
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 Scan is courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen |
Previously Unlisted Beck B698 CREW This previously unlisted Beck CREW cover was offered on eBay in a set of covers. This is the first one we have observed. The lucky and successful bidder ended up with a GREAT cover!
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Beck B584 CREW Cachet on eBay Dr. Smith was the successful bidder of this Beck CREW cover for Gemini GTA-6. USS Wasp cancel and similar covers have B584 identification.
This is the second such cover we have observed with the Hoover stamp and the "VIP" Label. |
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 Scan is courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith. Note that this cover shows B999 NUMBER with the Pacific cachet. All other Pacific ASTP observed have the B998 cachet. |
Beck Cachet Printing Variety
This cover shows B999 NUMBER with the Pacific cachet.
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 Scan is courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith. |
Beck B998 Cancelled in Greenbelt MD This Beck B998 is postmarked in Greenbelt MD on September 12, 1975. The slogan in the cancel reads "Apollo-Soyuz Peaceful Uses of Outer Space". |
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 Scan is courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith. |
Beck Cachet Printing Varieties The yellow background color is missing from the B999 cachet.
The red background color is missing from the B998 cachet. |
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 Scan is courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith. The cover shown below has the correct printed background. Any difference in cachet colors is a result of scanning.
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Beck Cachet Printing Varieties The background color is missing from the cachet shown at left.
Any difference in cachet colors is a result of scanning. |
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 Scan courtesy of Rich Hoffer |
Beck Cachet For Change of Command
USS Yosemite AD-19 Unusual Beck printed name on reverse of cover. |
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Beck Cachet Printing Varieties Tom Steiner sent us scans of these two printing varieties.
See a comparison of these cachets along with the proper colors CLICK HERE
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Beck GTA-6 PRS CREW cover sold for $81 on eBay |
GTA-6 USS Wasp, PRS CREW Cover $81 on eBay This great CREW cover sold on eBay for $81. See Beck B584 in the listings. There seems to be a lot of interest in Beck space covers these days as shown by the prices realized at auction.
Click HERE
to read more about this Gemini mission and the abort that took place. Thanks goes to Randy Constantin for providing the mission timeline.
October 25,1965 - Launch scrubbed due to failure of the Agena
docking target to reach orbit. |
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Sold by "seanspace" on eBay $62.76
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USS Boxer GTA-8 Covers The cover shown at the left is a recent lot from eBay as reported by Dr. Ross J Smith. The GTA-8 cover was sold by Sean Marsar on eBay. Sean is a well-respected space cover dealer. This lot is of the GREEN cachet of the Beck design. Click here for more details about these covers. The following text is from the eBay description:RARE GEMINI 8 SCHEDULED PRIME RECOVERY SHIP, USS BOXER RARE HAND CANCEL GREEN CACHET-I THINK THAT THIS IS A BECK CREW CACHETED COVER-- -Gemini 8 (officially Gemini VIII) was the sixth manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit, but suffered the first critical in-space system failure of a U.S. spacecraft which threatened the lives of the astronauts and required immediate abort of the mission. The crew was returned to Earth safely. The only other time this happened was on the flight of Apollo 13. Because the early abort of the mission the Leonard Mason had to pick up the astronauts instead of the designated USS Boxer. Covers from the Mason are obviously much rarer. It was the twelfth manned American flight and the twenty-second manned spaceflight of all time (including X-15 flights over 100 kilometres (62 mi)). Command pilot Neil Armstrong's flight marked the second time a U.S. civilian flew into space (Joseph Albert Walker became the first US civilian on X-15 Flight 90[1][2]). Armstrong had retired from the United States Navy in 1960. The Soviet Union had launched the first civilian, Valentina Tereshkova (also the first woman) aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963 |
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 Scan courtesy of Tom Steiner |
Beck Printing Error for Skylab III This interesting Beck cover is missing a color. Note that the B896 number would have been printed in the missing RED color. Click HERE to see correctly printed cachet and view B896 listing.
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"Wild" Bidding for Skylab III CREW This Beck CREW cover sold on eBay this week for an amazing price of $135.50 after 13 bids. The envelope stuffer card was what made this cover so desirable. We have never seen this stuffer card produced by Mr. Beck. We have no idea how many he made of this item or any similar covers. It is just a very interesting collectible and it fetched a nice price.
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| Updated information and listings on our Collector's Resource page Click HERE |
Happy New Year 2012 You may have noticed that we have been recording prices realized on eBay for Beck covers since about 2008. We just finished entering several thousand prices on the numbered cover listings. The eBay selling price is now listed for 2008-2011 when known. Click on any of the listings for Beck Numbered covers 1-1000.
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  Scans Courtesy of Greg Ciesielski/Rich Nallenweg |
Beck Cachet Printed on
European Size Env These are the first Beck cachets we have seen printed on the larger European sized envelope, referred to as C6 size. The C6 envelope size is the standard in Europe for most collector's covers while the 6 3/4 size envelope is common in North America. For more information on envelopes used in Europe please click HERE
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Project Gemini GTA-10
PRS sells for $26.50 This PRS Beck cover was spotted on eBay. It is great to see that important covers like this one are holding their value for collectors.
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Previously Unlisted 1947
USS Purdy This previously unlisted cover was spotted on eBay.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Perhaps The "purchase"
of Year! This previously unlisted/unknown CREW cover (B319) for Gordon's Mercury flight was bought on eBay. Dr. Smith "snagged" this cover for only $25. It was likely overlooked by many other Beck collectors that would have paid two or three times that amount. Note that the address on the cover is Mr. Beck's home address at that time.
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 B584 CREW Wasp PRS  B608 Wasp PRS Scans courtesy of Timothy Preston
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Two Elusive Gemini Beck
PRS Covers The scans at left were sent to us by Timothy Preston. He found these two very elusive covers in a lot of covers purchased this year. Take a look at the cover listings for these covers to view a similar looking cover of each. Up until now, we had only seen one example of each. Thanks Tim.
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Early Gemini Beck B543 This cover was sold on eBay for about $10. It has the autograph of the CO. A very nice cover.
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  Scans courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Unlisted Beck 881 Apollo
16 Sold on eBay Dr. Ross J Smith reports purchasing a previously unlisted Beck 881 Apollo 16 cover postmarked on USS Constellation CVA-64 on April 26, 1972. The cover sold on eBay for $36. The cover is addressed to the well-known cover dealer-collector Harry Gordon.
Also shown is a very nice Apollo 10 Beck 797 cover postmarked on USS Rich on a popular airmail envelope. Some collectors specialize in airmail envelopes. |
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
ASTP Dated
Cover-Probably a Beck Fake Dr. Ross J Smith reports purchasing a lot of 8 space covers. One of the covers in the lot is very interesting and probably has a FAKE Beck GT-3 cachet. The color of the cachet is less vivid than other GT-3 seen. Also the capsule and overall cachet is larger than the genuine version. The cover was postmarked in Norfolk for ASTP in July 1975. Possible explanations might be: 1) We know
that many ASTP covers were postmarked and returned to collectors
without a cachet. The Navy enforced the 2 covers per collector
rule. So perhaps this collector printed his own cachet!
OR 2) Dr Smith reports that the postmark like wavy lines appear to
be on top of the cachet, so it is probably a contemporary fake and
not a modern addition. |
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  Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross J Smith |
Interesting Gemini 10
Crew Covers These seldom seen Crew Covers for Gemini 10 also have an added rubber stamp cachet. The lower cover has the Beck designed rubber stamp as applied by the US Navy. Just to be clear, the blue cachet for these covers was printed on the ship for general purposes. The black rubber stamps were added for Gemini 10.
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 Scan courtesy of Charlie Hamilton |
Unlisted 1946 Beck Navy
Day Cover Found Charlie Hamilton found this previously unlisted Beck cover. Very nice example. There are over a dozen different Beck covers commemorating Navy Day 1946. See more HERE
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Beck B999 with
Interesting POB Number The cover shown here was sold on eBay for $6.50. The interesting thing is the address on the envelope. If any reader knows the story behind that address please let us know.
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 Scan courtesy of nalwife on eBay |
1946 Beck Navy Day Cover
bids to over $25 Bidding for a 1946 Morris W Beck cover postmarked on USS Douglas H Fox with a Navy Day 1946 cachet reached over $25 on eBay. Someone really wanted this cover! Typically, we haven't seen much bidding going on during the hot summer months.
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Cancel Error on USS Wasp
the PRS for GTA-9 Check the cancels of the USS Wasp GTA-9 covers in your collection to see if you have one of the "RARE" cancel variety versions. The variety is the upside down 1966 in the cancel slug. The scans at left show the only 3 covers we have observed. It is interesting to note that one cover has the US Navy rubber stamp cachet and the other two have the printed MW Beck cachets he assigned to the Wasp, B651, B657. There must be similar covers out there in collections but they haven't surfaced yet. If you have one, please send us a scan. The rubber stamp cachet with the cancel variety/error recently sold for $61 at auction. The Beck printed cachets should sell for more and we estimate that they would sell for $75-100 each depending upon the situation. You might run across the cover with the cancel variety at a local stamp show but you are more likely to see the cover on eBay. Depending upon how many collectors notice the cover the price would easily sell in the range stated above. Good Luck. Thanks goes to Dr. Ross Smith, Steve Durst and Eddie Bizub for providing scans of this issue.
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 Scan courtesy of Steve Durst |
USS Boxer LPH-4 Covers
for GTA-8 The cover shown at left is a new addition to our site. Based on correspondence between collectors, we have edited our special page on the GTA-8 covers. See the Boxer covers page here Thanks go to Dr Ross J Smith, Steve Durst, Randy Constantin, Dennis Dillman, Ray Cartier and Tom Steiner. |
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 Scan courtesy of PETESTAMPS on eBay |
1975 ASTP Cover Carried
by UDT Sold on eBay The cover shown at left is from the 1975 Apollo/Soyuz space mission. The cachet is the M W Beck designed rubber stamp and postmarked in SFO on July 24th. All that is not remarkable. What is unique with this cover is that it was actually carried by the UDT during the recovery mission. Sold on eBay June 5 for $22.50 by PETESTAMPS He reports that Dr Ramkissoon's name in pencil is at the bottom of the envelope but is almost completely erased. This cover is similar but not the same cover
as shown in the Beck 952-1000 cover listing under B998.
SEE HERE |
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Previously Unlisted 1947 Beck
Added to Site This 1947 Morris W Beck US Naval cover sold on eBay for $9.99 and was added to our site and Beck cover listings. |
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 June 2011 Scan courtesy of Ross Smith
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Beck B317 Story
Continues Morris W Beck's multicolored cachet number B317 for Gordon Cooper's MA-9 space flight was designated for USS Fletcher, one of the many US Navy ships of the MA-9 recovery force. Mr. Beck sent the printed (cacheted) envelopes to the US Navy to distribute to the ships that he designated. We know that when the envelopes reached the US Navy there was usually a different (non-standard) or even random distribution to the ships of the recovery force. That explains why we see Beck covers postmarked on different ships for the same cachet design, B317 in this case.
See the cover listing for more details on the story of B317 covers.
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 Beck USS Ozark CREW cover for Apollo 10 |
Beck CREW cover for B791
Sold on eBay Morris W Beck printed cachet for Apollo 10, B791, without the cachet number makes it a CREW cover. This cover from the USS Ozark sold for $32.00 on eBay.
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 Scan courtesy of Eddie Bizub from the collection of the late Richard Learn. |
First Scan of Mercury
B331 Cover
With May 15 Date Eddie Bizub sent us this scan of B331 USS Gainard from his stock and identified it as being from the collection of the late Richard Learn. This is the only B331 from the USS Gainard we have seen with the 15 May date. The 16 May date is the date seen most of the time. Update: This cover was sold and found a welcome home in a nice collection!
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 Scan courtesy of Toni Rigo. GT-2 USS Champlain cover with AM cancel.
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Very Elusive GT Cover
With RS Cachet Toni Rigo reports a very hard to find USS Champlain cover for GT-2 with the 19 Jan 1965 AM cancel. The cover shown here has the US Navy rubber stamp (RS) cachet. The rubber stamp applied to covers by the US Navy was designed and supplied by Morris W Beck. Mr. Beck used a similar design for his multicolor printed cachets as part of his numbered series. We have not seen a Beck printed cover with the AM cancel. The PM cancel is seen on Beck printed covers from USS Champlain. Beck numbers B456, B461 and B463. Toni Rigo researched the covers available for GT-2 and provides an excellent summary of the various USS Champlain covers for GT-2 US Navy Rubber Stamp Cachet 1) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Black cachet (the most difficult) 2) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Red cachet 3) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Purple cachet (the most predominant) Morris W Beck printed cachet 4) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Beck B456 (scheduled for USS Holder) 5) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Beck B461 (Shown at Bottom LEFT) 6) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM Beck B463 Unnumbered Beck printed cachet (or crew cover) 7) 19 Jan 1965 HC PM US Navy Rubber Stamp Cachet 8) 19 Jan 1965 HC AM (Shown at TOP LEFT) Navy Rubber Stamp Cachet 9) 19 Jan 1965 MC PM. (MC=Machine Cancel)
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 Scan from eBay |
Unlisted Beck Mercury
CREW Cover Found This great CREW cover was recently sold on eBay for about $105. Beck's numbered cachet for USS Taussig is B324. This is the first CREW cover we have seen from USS Taussig for this space mission. See other covers from this mission HERE. This cover is a CREW cover because it does not have the "B324" printed on it. Beck sent 25+ printed envelopes without the "B" number for each ship in the space recovery task force. The US Navy made the actual distribution of the covers. That is why we see such differences in the use of the covers from flight to flight and ship to ship.
WHAT IS A CREW COVER? Click HERE
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  Scans Courtesy of Kimberly M., the daughter of Lt. R. J. Barrett, a Helo Pilot for a Swim Team during splashdown of Apollo 11.
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"Letter From Daddy"
Apollo 11 Helo Pilot Lt. Richard J. Barrett, the pilot of the helicopter for the Swim Team for Apollo 11 astronaut recovery, knew how important the event was he participated in. He was on duty in the Pacific for the Mission to the Moon while his family was home in California. Lt. Barrett wrote this wonderful letter to his two month old baby daughter so she would know that he was part of history.
Thanks goes to his daughter, Kimberly for letting us include her personal letter on our site. Click on the letter to view it for better reading.
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 Scan courtesy of Richard Hoffner Tri Color Generic Cachet used for 1960 Ryukyu FDC |
Beck Tri Color FDC
Example Richard Hoffner, the past VP of the USCS, sent us this great scan of a Morris W Beck First Day of Issue Cachet. From 1952 and until the mid 1960's Mr. Beck produced FDC cachets under his own name and the Tri Color brand. This cover sold on eBay after 4 bids for $7.50. If you are not a member of the USCS, please consider becoming a member. Dues are reasonable and the Monthly Log publication is a wealth of information on Naval and Space covers. See more below |
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 Join the USCS and enjoy collecting covers from Naval ships. Most of Beck's covers were Naval covers. |
Universal Ship Cancellation Society Click
THIS Link for the membership form. Today the non-profit USCS has over 1,200 worldwide members and offer many resources for collectors. The monthly USCS LOG publication (included with membership) is packed with information about naval covers, ships, how to order postcards, history, and addresses of ships to send for your own postmarks from US Navy ships. SEE MORE |
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  USS LSM 496. Landing Ship Medium. Scans courtesy of Richard Hoffner |
WWII Morris W Beck Sailor's Mail
Richard Hoffner sent us the scan of a cover Mr. Beck sent home while in the Navy. Also shown is the US Navy ship Beck served on. USS LSM 496. The LSM was a Landing Ship Medium were amphibious assault ships during WWII. If you have any samples of Mr. Beck's sailor's mail, please send us a scan. |
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Beck 953 Cover Sold for
$23 on
eBay The Beck cover for the First Day in Commission of the USS Spruance DD 963 sold for $23 on eBay. |
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 Scan from eBay. Beck CREW cover for GT3 B515 |
Beck CREW GT3 (B515) On
eBay 180Euros Dr Ross Smith brought this to our attention. A nice GT3 CREW cover (B515) is being offered on eBay for 180 Euros or about $250. That price seems high and it will be interesting to see if it sells for that. We know of one that sold for $90 in 2009. The handwriting on this cover is the same as one that we show in our listing for B515 CREW. A member of the crew was lucky enough to get a couple of the envelopes that Mr. Beck sent the US Navy. |
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Beck 1951-2 Statehood
Set Listed on eBay UPDATE March 13: This lot did not sell. Steve Henderson sent us information on a seldom seen offering of complete set of Beck's Statehood series from 1951-2. It is on eBay now at lot # 180635283710. Below is the lot's description from eBay.
See our listing of the Beck Statehood series HERE
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 1. B584 CREW With Hand Cancel Scan courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen |
Important Beck Covers
Now Listed Martin Schwebs Rasmussen, a regular reader of this blog and Beck Naval cover collector, sent us some scans of some very interesting Beck covers.
1. B584 USS Wasp CREW with a HAND Cancel. The first one we have seen. We have a scan and have observed at least two B584 CREW covers but those have the MACHINE cancel. This one is newly listed in our GTA-6 listing. |
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 2. B608 With Hand Cancel Scan courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen
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2. B608 USS Wasp HAND Cancel. This newly listed B608 with the hand cancel is the first one we have seen for B608 Wasp.
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 3. GT5 RS cachet on Front with Beck printed on reverse (B562) Scan courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen  3. B562 Reverse-Note the envelope flap Scan courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen
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3. The very interesting cover shown here has the
Beck cachet printed on the BACK of the cover.
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 4. B323 CREW Cover (No Beck number) Scan courtesy of Martin S Rasmussen |
4.
For this space mission, the ship's
rubber stamp cachet is usually found on the reverse of the covers.
Since this is a CREW cover, it probably wasn't mailed and didn't
need room for the address. Note the autograph of the
commanding officer. It was probably given to one of the senior
officers on the ship as a souvenir. This is a CREW Cover. (Beck printed cover with no number = CREW). This CREW cover is listed under B323 because Beck designated B323 for USS Kearsarge even though some USS Kearsarge covers have been seen with B317 cachet. Beck's printing log indicates that B323-was for USS Kearsarge |
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 Beck Rubber Stamp Cachet with Boxer Hand Cancel |
Beck Rubber Stamp Cachet
with Boxer Hand Cancel This cover has the Beck designed rubber stamp cachet that he supplied to the US Navy. This corresponds to Beck cachet number 622. All examples of the USS Boxer cancels on cachet 622 have the machine cancel. We have not observed any Boxer hand cancels on a printed Beck cover for this space flight. If you have one please send us a scan. The cover shown here sold on eBay for $30. 2/11 See the Beck printed cachet 622 HERE
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 B699 for normal postage usage |
Beck Cover B699-Norfolk
In eBay Lot Dr. Ross Smith noticed a Beck B699 in an eBay lot of covers. The cover (at left) is postmarked Norfolk, VA on December 8, 1966 and addressed to Germany. The date doesn't seem to be of any significance so perhaps the cover was just used for correspondence. If any readers have any more information on this cover, please contact us.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith B773 USS Guadalcanal  B760 USS Essex  Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith B751 USS Chikaskia  Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith B784 USS Guadalcanal |
Beck Covers Addressed to Sec. of Navy John H Dalton-Sec/Navy 1993-1998 At least four Beck covers were sold on eBay on Feb 12 from the collection of John H Dalton, Secretary of the Navy, 1993-98. Shown is B773 USS Guadalcanal with the A.M. cancel, a new addition to our web site. We suspected that it existed but have never seen one. The lucky bidder won this cover for only $30.
Note that all four of these Beck covers, sold by one eBay seller, are from the same collection of John H. Dalton the Secretary of the Navy, 1993-1998. All four covers have the "VIP" label that we have seen on some very hard to find covers. We believe that the covers with with VIP labels were sent to a special list of people and not to collectors. Industry, Navy, Contractors, Space and Government officials. In 1968-69, Dalton was serving in the Navy and received Navy Nuclear Power training. He served on USS Blueback SS-581 and USS J C Calhoun SSBN-630.
Beck B751 USS Chikaskia for AS 502. $32.00. This one is very hard to find.
Beck B784 USS Guadalcanal for AS 504 $24.39. This one is very hard to find.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith |
A Second Beck B525
Brown/Gold Cover Found
A B525 with the Brown/Gold cancel was found by
Dr Smith.
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1946 Beck USS Philippine
Sea CV-47 Added This new addition was observed on eBay with a starting bid price of $9.99
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith |
Beck CREW Cover for GT-2
B461 Dr. Ross Smith sent us this scan of a great example of a CREW cover for GT-2 This CREW cover is listed under B461 because Beck's
printing log indicates that this number AND B463 were designated for USS Lake Champlain.
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith |
Beck B653 USS
Wasp PRS Added Dr. Ross Smith sent us this scan of an important Prime Recovery Ship of Gemini 9. We have only seen a couple of the B653 postmarked on the Wasp. Also, watch for this cover with the Wasp Hand Cancel!
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1944 Beck WWII Dual
Cancel USS Hyman
Rich Hoffner sent us this scan of a very interesting WWII cover with
dual cancels. One from 1944 and then 1946. Rich reports
that the second cancel marks the ships arrival at Casco, Maine after
transiting the Panama Canal after WWII. The cover bears Mr.
Beck's hand written address and we know that Mr. Beck was in the
Navy so perhaps he knew someone or maybe he was on the Hyman at that
time. |
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith |
Unlisted Beck B604 USS
Wasp PRS Found Dr. Ross Smith found this unlisted Beck cover for B604. A great find!
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 Scan courtesy of David Ball |
Beck B697 USS Robert A
Owens CREW Covers This CREW cover for the AS202 mission is already shown on this site, but what is interesting is that David Ball found these CREW covers both addressed to the well-known space cover dealer, Robert Boudwin. Since CREW covers are unusual to begin with, no doubt that Mr. Boudwin had connections to get two of these covers. Did he get them from Mr. Beck or from the Navy?
See more scans of this issue courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith
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 Scan courtesy of David Ball |
Beck B333 USS Beatty
CREW Cover Previously unlisted. We are very happy to have this scan sent us by David Ball.
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Apollo 13 Very Unusual CREW cover
This scan from CollectSpace.com Web site was brought to our attention by Dr Ross Smith. It is from the collection of Martin Schwebs Rasmussen. This is the only Apollo13 Beck cover seen from the Stoddert. Probably one-of-a-kind.
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 Scan courtesy of Martin Schwebs Rasmussen |
Beck Apollo 12 B824 USS
Hawkins CREW This previously unlisted Beck CREW cover was sold on eBay in November, 2010 for $16.50. This is the only CREW cover we have seen for the Hawkins for Apollo12 and we wondered if it existed.
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Beck Space Covers on
eBay
Top: December 2010. Sold on eBay. $41.00. Seller was gastampman.
Center: December 2010. Sold on eBay. $22.37. Seller was gastampman.
Bottom:December 2010. Sold on eBay. $45.64. Seller was gastampman. |
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 Scan courtesy of GAStampMan on eBay |
Beck B323 USS Kearsarge
PRS Autographed-Cooper This Beck cover, cachet B323, is postmarked on the prime recovery ship for Gordon Cooper's space mission on May 16, 1963. This autographed cover sold on eBay for $103.50 after 7 bids.
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 Scan courtesy of PeteStamps on eBay |
Beck B998 July 25, 2010
Sells for $144.95 on eBay See the story of this and other ASTP covers in the listing section. |
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 Scan courtesy of Charlie Hamilton |
Beck Change of Command
Cover added to site. Thanks goes to Charlie Hamilton for sending us this scan of a previously unlisted cover on this Beck Cover site. See similar unnumbered Beck 1963 covers HERE
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 Most cancels are poor quality. Except for the covers shown below and right, all covers observed until 2010, also have a Boston MC July 31 on face of cover.
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M W Beck Cachet 47 USS Miller
Study Most recent addition to the site is the USS Miller cover shown directly below. This cover shows a full and clean cancel. Most Beck 47 covers also have the Boston MA machine cancel.
Another good example with a clear cancel plus note the cachet was printed over the address label. Scan courtesy of Rich Hoffner. |
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Very Unusual GT-9 PRS Sold for
$159.50 on eBay
The scans at left are the front and back of ONE cover. Perhaps unique. On the front is the GT-8 USS Boxer cover with the hard to find BLUE RS cachet for GT-8. On the back of the envelope is the printed captain's cover cachet for GT-9. Two different flights, two dates. Interesting. Thanks to Dr. Ross Smith for providing information for this posting.
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Beck 801 Apollo 11 Sold for $54
on eBay
A very nice example of Beck 801 USS Hornet Apollo 11 PRS sold on eBay for $54.
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Beck 630 Gemini 8 PRS Sold for
$255 on eBay!
This cover, the B630, USS Mason has always been an important PRS cover and the price has varied over the years. This sale at $255 is probably a record price or perhaps the highest paid in the past 5-8 years.
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Beck 699 CREW cover on Airmail
Envelope
Graeme J W Smith sent in the example of Beck 699 CREW
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Beck 723 FREE Mail
Rich Hoffner sent in this Beck 723 covers, a nice find in his "FREE" mail Viet Nam collection. Beck # 723, postmarked while ship in Vietnamese waters with Free franking privileges. Postal Clerk applied his rubber stamp to the cover.
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Beck 998 July 17 Sold on eBay
Ross Smith agrees that this cover is a Sean Marsar cover and is similar to the cover postmarked on July 15 on that same flight. According to Dr. Smith's research, only 10 covers were postmarked for each day with an extra 20 being postmarked on July 17, the day of docking. If you could assemble a complete set of the Beck and Navy RS cachets for this flight, it might be worth $1000. |
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Cover from Mr. Beck's collection Cachet designed by Donald O Schultz
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Beck CREW 515 GT-3 Another one
surfaces on eBay! I'm surprised to see another GT-3 CREW cover offered on eBay. It sold for only $32. We estimate that this CREW Prime Recovery Ship cover is probably really worth $100-125+
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Beck Covers and Interesting
Material I'm on the road for the next 6 weeks so my additions to this site will be quick and few! The Blue envelope at left is unusual and from the exhibit of Dr. Ramkissoon. The Betty Boop cachet is from Morris Beck's personal collection. He did not produce this cachet as far as we know. Other covers have been added in the Beck listing by individual covers. April 25, 2010
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 Above, Scan Courtesy of Tom Steiner
The cover below
from Dr Ross Smith, with the BLACK color missing is on our site.
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Beck #874 Apollo 15 Missing Green
Color USS Kawishiwi Courtesy of Tom Steiner, at left is a printed cachet color missing variety. Cover at bottom left is a B874 missing the black.
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 Scan Courtesy of Greg Ciesielski and Dave Kent |
Beck #47 LDPS USS Miller Found
Without MC Overprint Courtesy of Greg Ciesielski and Dave Kent, here is a Beck #47 scan that made us revise the caption on the webpage. "Most cancels are poor quality. All covers observed also have Boston MC July 31 on face of cover." This one is clean with no Boston MC . |
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  Bottom scan courtesy of Luc Jallot. This cover is interesting because it shows the same markings as another cover on our site. This seems to indicate that the changes to the Beck printed cachet were made by the ship's personnel and not a collector. If you have a B521 OR B522 Wasp without the changes shown above, please send us a scan.
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Ross Smith helped to identify the interesting markings on this GT-4 cover. He wrote "the small blue circular cachet was applied by Morris Beck. He applied it to any cover at his customers request and therefore it is not just found on recovery ship covers, but also on other covers such as launch covers. He used a number of different colored inks and I'm aware of examples from Gemini 2 to Apollo 4. I've documented these cachets on my Recovery Ship Cover site including those ink colors that I'm aware of. The JFK cachet is a George Goldey cachet and seems to be far less common on Recovery Ship covers than the Morris Beck cachet."
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Beck ASTP Rubber Stamp Postmarked
July 25, 1975 Remember that the post office on the USS New Orleans was closed on the actual ASTP recovery date of July 24, 1975. This cover is special because it is on a two-sided post card. See more similar covers from ASTP HERE
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Beck B746 AS 501 Recovery Ship
Cover Previously Unlisted
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 Scan courtesy of Tom Steiner |
Beck B896 Skylab Hawaii Cancel
Previously Unlisted
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Beck B613 Wasp Recovery Ship
Cover Previously Unlisted
Two similar B613 Wasp covers were offered on eBay. Successful bidder Dr. Ross Smith informed us of his find.
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Beck Printed Covers for Apollo 10
Missing Color
Ton Steiner sent us these scans of a missing background color on a Beck printed cover for Apollo 10. |
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 Scan courtesy of Dr. Ross Smith |
Previously Unlisted Beck
CREW Cover Apollo 14
The Apollo 14 CREW cover at left was sold on eBay ($29.55). This is the first CREW cover we have seen from Apollo 14 cancelled on the Spiegel Grove, a secondary recovery ship for Apollo 14. With Dr. Smith's find, we only need tolocate the CREW cover for Apollo 14, USS Hawkins to have scans for CREW covers for all the recovery ships on that mission where Mr. Beck provided printed cachets. If you have a Hawkins CREW cover for this mission, please send us a scan.
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| Click HERE for FREE checklists |
Beck
Space Covers Checklist
We've had numerous requests for a checklist showing ONLY Beck space printed covers from the 1-1000 numbered series of 1962-1974. Click on link at left. Basically, this is the same checklist as the numbered series except it shows only the popular US Naval Space covers produced by Morris W Beck. Updated as of January 2010.
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Two Previously Unlisted Beck
Covers on eBay for Sale
There are two early Morris W Beck printed naval covers for sale on eBay right now. Our site did not list either of these covers until we saw them on eBay. Thanks to Rich of "nalwife". USS Missouri 1944, a VERY early Beck cover. He was still in high school. Very few produced. Missouri eBay Link HERE
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1973 Beck Printed Cachet for
USCS Convention
The latest addition to our site is this 1973 Morris W Beck printed cachet for the USCS convention. This was offered on eBay.
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