Rare Apollo 17 insurance 'type' 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." The front bears an indentation stamp to lower right, "Insurance Cover No. 6," and the reverse a provenance stamp from "The Eugene A. Cernan Space Collection." The cover also features postmarks dated December 7th in the years 1992, 2002, and 2007. In fine condition. Accompanied by a notarized certificate of authenticity, serial numbered "6," and signed in black ink by Cernan, which features an image of him posing with four stacks of the insurance covers, and reads: "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." Very few covers for the Apollo 17 mission exist as the crew wanted to avoid any philatelic controversy spurred by the Apollo 15 Sieger incident. Additionally, fully signed examples are even scarcer—Cernan and CMP Evans both signed a total of 500 insurance covers while in preflight quarantine, a period LMP Harrison Schmitt initially opted not to sign, and the chief reason why these covers weren't postmarked on the date of launch; it was only after the mission did Schmitt elect to add his name to these covers. Safely contained by the mission commander for over 35 years, this is a highly sought-after and fully signed cover that represents man's last lunar excursion.
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