S1907

Space Exploration

Saturn, Voyager 2

Collins Cover Announcement 

SPACE EXPLORATION

Saturn/Voyager 2

This cover begins the COLLINS Solar System series for the ten stamp issue featuring all of the planets plus the moon. In addition to the heavenly body, the cachet will depict a space craft used to explore space within our solar system and beyond. I believe that it will be a very popular set of FDCs as space related covers seem to have an active following. Each of my covers will be set against a black background filled with the flecks of light from distant stars. Using a "wash" technique of painting in watercolors, the colors of the planets will approximate very closely the hues, tones, and shades that are represented in the latest, most up-to-date reference materials. No other cachetmaker will match the realistic rendering of the planets as done in this group of COLLINS Covers.

My first offering to you is Saturn. This large planet, complete with its famous rings, dominates the cachet image area. Flying by on its mission of space exploratIon is Voyager 2. As with the up-coming covers in this series, the cachet has a hand-painted border in a color coordinated to best complement the planet shown. The text is very "futuristic" looking and really helps to further the space theme. The corresponding Saturn stamp has a Pasadena, California First Day postmark.

Much thought and research preceded the actual design and execution of these cachets. This COLLINS Cover will start you on a journey that will visit the moon and each of our planetary neighbors. These FDCs will provide you, the collector of today, with pleasure now and I'm sure that they will always be in demand by the collectors of tomorrow as the human race truly enters the Space Age in ernest.

The intriguing rings partially obscured by the planet's shadow. The hand-painted border surrounding the blackness of space. The distinctive Space Age text style. The carefully engineered Voyager 2 as it flies by. The custom coloring of the planet's surface. Saturn. Item #S1907. $8.75

Winter 2026 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 20 S1901 — S1910 — Solar System Space Stamps (set of ten covers) — /0/1/91

The USPS "Space Exploration" stamps, issued October 1, 1991, featured the nine planets and Earth's moon with their respective spacecraft, celebrating the solar system and kicking off National Stamp Collecting Month. The heavenly bodies shown are Mercury, Venus, Earth, (Earth's moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

The USPS partnered with Paramount Studios to promote the stamps. The studio was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Star Trek movies and television series. The stamp designs were unveiled on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, the space vehicle featured in the series.

These stamps show some of the spacecraft and the images of the planets they captured as they flew by. Discoveries continue to be made with the space probes that still travel our solar system."

Each of my ten hand-painted first day covers depicts one of the nine planets plus the Earth's moon. Since Pluto had not yet had a fly-by or been explored by any manmade craft, I depicted the US.S. Enterprise from the show Star Trek.