US First Man on the Moon stamp
Do you remember the Swiss stamp cancelled in UK I showcased last month? Here is equally bizarre “accident” – a US airmail stamp cancelled in Germany.
1969 US First man on the moon stamp. Michel #990, catalogue value 0.40€ / Scott C76, catalogue value 0.40US$. Notice that this stamp was cancelled in Porz, Germany on Christmas Eve 1969
The stamp displays astronaut Neil Amstrong stepping out of the Apollo 11 lunar module “Eagle” on July 21 1969. Armstrong himself is not honored “by portrayal” in accordance with U.S. Postal Service criteria pertaining to postage stamps not honoring living people. This issue was the first jumbo-sized US commemorative stamp.
You might also be interested of related posts about Postmarks and cancellations, Stamps and postal history of USA.
I never saw anything like that, but I guess 505 refers to a military office that was American.
So maybe soldiers could send their mail using American stamps, and the cancellations were German in their form but only Americans use them.
Nothing related to stamps, but the same way… If you know Germans number plates, you know that they start by either one, two or three letters that indicate the city or the ‘kreis’ (sort of very small county). For ex., B is for Berlin, SB for Saarbrucken, and DAH for Dachau (Munich suburb). There are two letters that are reserved for the American baseforce in Germany: previously AF, and nowadays HK.
Anyway, I guess you can dig a little bit on this topic, and might be able to find something…
Hi Ada,
I think the cancel is a normal cancel of Porz,505 being the “area code” on the cancel. But this is just my initial hunch – haven’t checked that tough.
Interestingly Porz is the home of German Aerospace Center (DLR) – established/opened in 1969. So I would not be suprised if this item was made by some space collector in late 1969.
This looks like a normal German machine cancellation. 505 or 5050 was qs far as I know the former postcode of Porz, which is today a part of Cologne.
I don’t know why it was used on a American stamp. Maybe it was on a letter from the USA to Porz and wasn’t cancelled in the USA and later it run throu the cancellation machine there (intentionally or not).
Or someone used a US stamp on a letter from Porz and no one noticed it.
I don’t think US military post offices would use German cancellations.
@ AdA: There is also IF and now SH. But now most American cars have German number plates, but you can often recognise them, because they have smaller number plates at the rear.
Hello,
I’m doing a brochure in France about Apollo 11 and stamps. I will make a chapter about US stamps and especially the 10 cents. Is it possible to use the image of this curious cancelled stamps in Germany ?
Regards,
Arnaud
Hello Arnaud,
permission granted
If you need a larger resolution (=better quality) image of the stamp in question, please let me know and I’ll do a new scan.
-keijo-
hi there! i found this blog by accident when i was searching about the Apolo Moonlandind stamp. i have the block ( 4 part ) in very good condition of this stamp, i bought it from one of classmates when i was 14 yeasr old. the image is in my facebook profile http://www.facebook.com/oshin.d.zakarian
Hi Oshin,
by default facebook profile images are visible only to your facebook friends (so I’ve befriended you
)
I have a full sheet of the First Man on the Moon 10 cent stamp. How do I find out how much it is worth?
Thanks,
John
Hi John,
A quick check on the eBay reveals that few similar sheets are on sale in range of 10-15$ by stamp dealers. On individual markets the price would be pretty close to face value of stamps… But that’s just my (European) opinion.
I have the Moon Landing Scott C76 that I’ve had since issue. It is an error stamp that is referred to as the “dropped earth error”. The earth is so close to the moon that it actually “sits” on it and makes a “crescent-shaped impression”. Also, the color along the top of the stamp is off register so that the top 1-2 mm of the gold on the lunar module and the gold face on Armstrong’s helmet visor are “dropped”. Has anyone else seen/heard of this error? Scott has no subnumber for it and Mystic seems to have never heard of it. Thanks for any help. Bill
Hi Bill,
Is it like this?
i have this stamp ..i think its cool
I have a sealed envelope with the same First Man on the Moon stamp on it, the post office mark over the stamp is printed as “First Day of Issue”. On the left side of the envelope printed in blue it says:
“First Day of Issue Commemorating
FIRST MAN ON THE MOON
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.
Under that it has a picture of the moon and the same picture as on the stamp also printed in blue with the date July 20, 1969. The postmark stamps on it are 1. Washington DC Sept 9 1969 and 2. Moon Landing USA July 20 1969. The envelope is addressed to my grandmother in the UK.
The back of the envelope has the wording Limited Edition First Day cover Envelope printed on it.
I am dying to know whats inside – any ideas? I am so tempted to open it but my father always told me it would ruin any value it might have. They are both deceased now and I cannot ask them. Thanks
@Kerry… US first day covers are way out my ballpark, so this is just an educated guess…. Very likely it has a simple thin cardboard with some information about the stamp/cover. You could try to place the cover against light source, and try to see through. if there’s nothing special (like highly sought signatures), then I fear it’s worth a buck or so.
I also have a First Day of Issue of the First Man on the Moon Stamp (Apollo 11) as Kerry, #13 above, wrote about. Does anyone have any idea what this may be worth?
Judy
I am avid collector of the C-76 10c airmail stamp – First Day of Issue (different cachets makers), souvenir cards, errors, plates block numbers (15 numbers). I have collecting this particular topic for quite sometime. There are some color shifts, missing red on the astronaut shoulder patch, untag (non-flourescence), two type of hand cancellation. There is a catalog for the different cachets available for collectors.
Thanks for the info Pete…
I have a full unbroken sheet of 32 of these stamps and was wondering where I could find the sheet value as opposed to the single stamp value if there is such a thing.
@Karmin… Modern & common US like this (printed in tens of millions of copies) is worth it’s face value max.
A quick search on eBay brings up lots of complete sheets priced from few $ (real world/face value) up to 20$ (pure greed).
I have two of the 10ct.Moon Landing what would their value be?
@Alan… Still the same as written in the article -
If used, they are practically less than cent a piece. But if you buy them from stamp dealer, they cost You around 0.40$ (since they got to make profit, pay storage etc).
If mint/unused, then worth face value.
I have this stamp, but on the envelope with the picture of Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, with two stamps, one is Washington.DC dated sep 9 1969 and the other stamp is Moon landing july 20 1969 and it also has a stamp stating “first day of issue” It was given to my grandfather by Armstrong personally when the Apollo crew were in a visit to Yougoslav president Tito. What would its value be?
@Davor… Nice story. But sadly it alone doesn’t add any value to it.
Philatelically speaking it’s value is more or less the same as with every other FDC (First Day Cover): somewhere between $0.50-2$ depending on how lucky you get.
If it had autographs/signatures of astronauts or Tito (and a certificate of authenticity), then it would be worth more as it would interest those collecting autographs or space memorabilia.
Hello Keijo, Surely this is a German Cancel. It says “23-12-69″. If it was American I would expect it to say “12-23-69″ The Americans use Month then Day. I dealt with a company in the U.K. that was American and they kept changing the format of their dates, from British to Amercan and back again. Nearly drove me nuts as I did not always notice and my purchasing program would not let me enter receipt of goods before I ordered them.