Apollo 17 anniversary cover with a cachet of the mission insignia and text to top and bottom, "NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club, Official Commemorative Cover," 6.5 x 3.5, signed in black felt tip by the entire crew: "Gene Cernan," "Jack Schmitt," and "Ron Evans." A stamp on the front identifies the cover as "Insurance Cover No. 227," the reverse bears a provenance stamp from "The Eugene A. Cernan Space Collection," and both sides feature postmarks dated December 19th in the years 1997, 2002, and 2007. In very fine condition.
Accompanied by a notarized certificate of authenticity, serial numbered "227" and signed in black ink by Cernan, which features an image of him posing with four stacks of the insurance covers, and reads: "After the mission, I chose not to release my crew's Insurance Covers to collectors as the other Apollo crews had done with theirs. Instead, I kept most of the covers intact in order to postmark them on significant Apollo 17 anniversaries over the decades. I eventually chose to release the covers in 2009, at which time an 'Insurance Cover' hand-stamp was affixed to officially memorialize them as the Apollo 17 Insurance Covers." After this presentation was released, Gene Cernan issued a clarification indicating he did not consider them to be official 'insurance covers.' As the signatures are undoubtedly authentic and originated from Cernan's collection, we are offering this as an 'insurance-like cover.'
CDR Cernan and CMP Evans are believed to have signed approximately 500 of these covers before their flight, while LMP Harrison Schmitt initially opted not to sign to avoid any of the philatelic controversy that had plagued the Apollo 15 crewmen. Schmitt later signed the covers at Cernan's request before the 10th anniversary of the flight, and Cernan had them postmarked on significant anniversaries of the launch.
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