P2401

Priority Mail

Space Shuttle Challenger

Collins Cover Announcement 

A very special offering - Immediate response suggested.

$10.75 EXPRESS MAIL - ENDEAVOR SPACE SHUTTLE

$3.00 PRIORITY MAIL - CHALLENGER SPACE SHUTTLE

Two high-value Space stamps make this one of the best announcements of new COLLINS First Day Covers for this year. Briefly I will tell you a little about each issue.

While attending this year's American First Day Cover Society Convention in California, I will service the brand new Express Mail stamp. It pictures the Endeavor Space Shuttle blasting off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. The ten dollar, seventy-five cent denomination ensures that relatively few covers will be produced and also that, with this high value classification, it will be a solid collectible. As is my usual practice for high value items, I will only produce covers for my collectors who order before issue date. My hand-painted cachet will be an "entire" and, in the tradition of my high-value covers, will be a knockout. I plan to enter it and the Challenger cover in next year's National Cachetmakers' contest.

That Challenger Cover with the face amount of three dollars was just issued on June 22nd. The image area on the stamp is a NASA photograph of the space shuttle. In earth orbit, it is shown with its bay doors open and I think that it is a terrific space topic postage stamp.

On June 18, 1983 the Challenger lifted off with a payload of two commercial communication satellites. On that flight, Mission Specialist Sally K. Ride became the first woman in space. When the mission ended after six days, Challenger became the first shuttle to land on the three-mile long runway at the Kennedy Space Center.

There are two final points that I would like to make. They are the usual suggestions that I make for issues such as these that will have huge appeal and where interest by COLLINS collectors will be intense.

1. Place your order early for these items. Subscribers can

rest easy as I will be doing your normal subscription covers. But.. .non-subscribers and subscribers who want extras should get their orders in as soon as possible.

2. The important thing is that your collection includes one

each of these high value, limited edition gems. Once that base is covered, however, do consider extras. There will always be collectors searching for this type of extraordinary material.

In closing, let me stress why prompt ordering is important. First. I have absolutely ,, doubt whatsoever that my $3.00 Challenger cover will be a sell-out within a very short time. Please avoid the disappointment that some collectors experienced by ordering my recent Apollo Moon Landing Cover too late. They were gone! This space priority Mail FOC will follow suit and you're looking at an early sell-out. Don't miss it! Second, the $10.75 Endeavor Cover can only be ordered before I take off for California at the very beginning of August. It will be an instant sell-out because I'm only going to do it for collectors who order now. If you're too late, it will be like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. This is a high value, Express Mail COLLINS FDC, and it will always be one of the sought-after covers in our hobby.

Only last week Linda and I along with our two youngest children went to see the new movie "Apollo 13". It was wonderful and reportedly extremely close to the actual events as they unfolded. It was an emotionally awe-inspiring film of true life drama and it makes one very proud of the American Space effort. On a personal level, the timing was great as I was in the midst of getting this offer ready to send and it gave me satisfaction knowing that my COLLINS hand-painted cachets (recently for Apollo and now for our shuttles) will always reflect high quality, philatelic recognition of our continuing space efforts. The United States Shuttle Program is in full operational swing and soon will play a vital role in the construction of the permanent International Space Station that will be the next stepping stone to the planets and the endless frontiers of space.

In future years, new collectors and those just "discovering" COLLINS will wish that they had the opportunity that is now yours to obtain these two FDCs at original offering price. I believe that both of these large hand-painted cachets are potential winners at next year's Convention competition and I'm very anxious for you to see them. $3.00 Priority Mail Challenger - 

 $23.00.   $10.95 Express Mail Endeavor  $30.75. COLLINS numbers to be assigned.

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