Morris W Beck Naval Ship and Space Flight Covers US Navy

A Resource for Collectors of Morris W. Beck Philatelic Covers. (About this site)
Owen R. Murray

Latest BLOG Update: August 11, 2009 Also see Owen's Photos Site
eBay selling prices updated below-August 10, 2009

Scan courtesy of Greg Ciesielski	1946 M W Beck Cover added to this Site Thanks goes to Greg Ciesielski for sending us a scan of a 1946 William R Rush War games cover actually postmarked on the ship. See scan at left. The cover we have on this site was postmarked May 27(?), 1946 by machine cancel in NY, NY. It is great to have one postmarked on the ship. See the 1946 Beck Covers here
Scan courtesy of Ross Smith	Apollo 9 USS Guadalcanal Cachet Variety The cover shown at the left looks like the "usual" Apollo 9 Beck printed cachet, but it has been modified. The word "Pacific" has been blocked out and the word "Atlantic" has been added. If you have any information on this change or knowledge of who actually made the change please let us know. The USS Guadalcanal, the prime recovery ship was located in the Atlantic for the recovery. Also see the other Apollo 9 Beck covers here.
Scans courtesy of Ross Smith	Apollo 14 USS Ponchatoula Beck RSC Variation Dr. Ross Smith brought the covers shown at left to our attention. What you see are two covers from the same secondary ship for Apollo 14 mission, USS Ponchatoula. One cover with a black rubber stamp cachet (RSC) postmarked February 3, 1971 and another cover with a maroon RSC postmarked February 9, 1971 (the correct date). He reports seeing several covers postmarked with the February 3 date on RSC covers only. No February 3 dates have been seen on Beck printed covers B862. Check your Beck covers to see if you have a cover with the February 3 postmark. If you find one, please send us a scan.
Scan courtesy of Luc Jallot, France	Great Example of Beck Printing Error Thanks to Luc Jallot for sending us this scan from an auction. The green color is missing from the Beck cachet.
Scan courtesy of VACOVERS on eBay	B515 CREW for GT3 Sold on eBay $90 This is the third GT3 Beck Crew cover we have seen. The cover shown here was sold in July 2009 for $90. See all three covers HERE Two of the three are addressed to the same person. We assume that W.R. Skelley Jr. must have been a postal clerk, PIO or other officer on the Wasp during the recovery. If you have more information on Mr. Skelley, please let us know so we can share it with other collectors.
Scan courtesy of Ross Smith	Check Your B584 covers for a Cancel Variety Ross Smith sent us the scan shown on the left. Note that the cover has the US Navy rubber stamp cachet (RSC) provided to the US Navy by Mr. Beck. The important thing to note is the date in the machine cancellation. The year "1965" is inverted. Click on the scan to see it larger. This is the only cover we have ever seen with this variety. This cover is shown in Ray Cartier's book of recovery covers. Check your collection, you just might find this variety hidden with your covers. If you find one please let us know.
Scan courtesy of Spaceflori, Germany	AS-501 Set with Rare Greenbelt cover Sells for $51.00 June 30, 2009 Shown at left is a set of 3 covers sold at a lot on eBay. The selling price was $51.00. The lot was bid up because of the very hard to find AS-501 cover from the Goddard Space Flight Center and postmarked at Greenbelt, Maryland.
Scan courtesy of Spaceflori, Germany Apollo 11 Beck 801Sold on eBay $6.50. BARGAIN! Usually sells for $40-60 Scan courtesy of Spaceflori, Germany AS-202 Beck 674 Sold on eBay $8.50	Summer Bargains on Beck Prime Recovery Ships There have been some recent bargains found on eBay this month. Perhaps the summer and vacations has turned collector's attention away from their collections. When is the last time you found a Beck 801 Apollo 11 Hornet for under $40? A VERY nice one just sold on eBay for $6.50! See the cover shown at left. Scan courtesy of Spaceflori, Germany Apollo 13 Beck 838 Sold on eBay $10.50
Above and right: scans courtesy of Eddie Bizub	New Scans of Difficult to Find Beck's Thanks to Eddie Bizub for scanning and sending us these scans to fill the spaces on our site. Click on each cover to see the cover in the series listing.
Recent selling prices and bargains of Beck Covers on eBay. Please note that these are the actual selling prices on eBay. We are NOT offering these covers for sale. This Web site is for reference only. Thank you for visiting and enjoy collecting Morris W Back covers. Owen R Murray BIN=Buy it Now-eBay store July 2008-May 2009 Prices HERE	Updated August 3, 2009 Note: eBay Selling price shown below does not include tax or shipping cost eBay Prices August 2009 Beck 575 USS Vallejo Launch $2.50 eBay Prices July 2009 Beck 880 USS Ticonderoga Apollo 16 Duke Autopen $4.95 Beck 23 USS Soley AFD BIN $15.00 Beck 940 USS Texas launch CREW $3.85 BIN Beck Early 1944 USS Myers/Pattison Launch $4.99 Beck 439 USS Gridley Coral Sea Celeb $4.50 Beck 782 USS Guadalcanal Apollo 9 PRS $25.00 BIN Beck 806 USS Ozark Apollo 11 $5.00 BIN Beck 792 USS Rich Apollo 10 $3.00 BIN Beck 789 USS Chipola Apollo 10 $2.50 BIN Beck 317 USS Kearsarge Cooper Mercury $70.00 Beck 716 KSC AS-204 $3.00 Beck 746 USS York County AS-501 $3.00 Beck 919 USS McCloy July 4th $2.00 Beck 930 USS Moinster Commission $2.00 Beck 938 USS Mahan Recomm $2.00 Beck 543 USS Hawkins GT-4 $3.95 Beck 615 USS Juneau Launch $2.75 Beck 94 USS Semmes Commission $3.99 Beck 577 USS Simon Bolivar Commission $3.00 Beck 45 USS Hoel Commission $3.99 Beck 884 USS Ticonderoga Apollo 17 PRS $7.50 Beck 751 USS Chikaskia AS-502 $9.99 Beck 515 USS Intrepid GT-3 PRS CREW $90.00 BIN Beck 405 USS Sam Rayburn Launch $6.00 eBay Prices June 2009 Beck 652 USS R L Wilson GTA-9,(Harry Gordon) $4.95 BIN Beck 656 USS Chikaskia GTA-9,(Harry Gordon) $4.95 BIN Beck 655 USS McCaffery GTA-9,(Harry Gordon) $4.95 BIN Beck 649 USS Mackenzie GTA-9,(Harry Gordon) $4.95 BIN Beck 717 KSC, 728 Benn + Greenbelt/Goddard RSC AS-501 $51.00 Beck 318, 324, 335 Cooper Secondary ships $12.50 Beck 678 USS Sproston AS-202 $4.00 BIN Beck 675 USS O'Bannon AS-202 $4.00 BIN Beck 887 Norfolk, VA Apollo 17 $3.00 BIN Beck 886 Norfolk, VA Apollo 17 $3.00 BIN Beck 339 USS Harwood Cooper $11.50 Beck 650 USS Rupertus GTA-9 $6.95 Beck 234 USS Blandy July 4 $3.99 Beck 659 USS Camden Comm $3.00 BIN Beck 801 USS Hornet Apollo 11 PRS $6.50 Beck 674 USS Hornet AS-202 PRS $8.50 Beck 838 USS Iwo Jima Apollo 13 PRS $10.50 Beck 758 USS Essex Apollo 7 PRS $15.50 Beck 67 USS Barney Comm $13.01 Beck 680 USS T E Chandler GTA-11 $5.00 Beck 679 USS Kawishiwi GTA-11 $5.00 Beck 677 USS B Stoddert AS-202 $5.00 Beck 675 USS O'Bannon GTA-10 $5.00 Beck 671 USS Severn GTA-10 $5.00 Beck 670 USS Norris GTA-10 $5.00 Beck 655 USS McCafferty GTA-9 $5.75 Beck 654 USS Bordelon GTA-9 $5.00 Beck 610 USS Waldron GT-6 $4.00 Beck 611 USS J P Kennedy GT-6 $4.75 Beck 612 USS Aucilla GT-6 $4.00 Beck 623 USS Ingram Apollo 1 $8.05 Beck 624 USS Turner Apollo 1 $9.01 Beck 625 USS R L Wilson Apollo 1 $7.05 Beck 627 USS Kaskaskia Apollo 1 $4.00 Beck 647 USS Epperson GTA-9 $4.00 Beck 650 USS Rupertus GTA-9 $4.00 Beck 676 USS Obannon AS 202 $4.00 Beck 583 USS Renshaw GTA-6 $4.80 Beck 586 USS Borie GTA-6 $5.50 Beck 92 USS Essex 20th Anniv $3.99 Beck 738 USS Lexington JULY 4 $ .50 Beck 953 USS Spruance Comm $4.00 Beck 922 USS Columbus LDPS $2.75 BIN Beck 609 USS J P Kennedy GT-7 $7.05 Beck 606 USS Aucilla GT-7 $5.00 Beck 604 USS Waldron GT-7 $5.00 Beck 601 USS Ponchatoula GT-7 $5.00 Beck 600 USS Rupertus GT-7 $5.00 Beck 599 USS Cochrane GT-7 $5.00 Beck 591 USS Kraus GTA-6 $5.50 Beck 590 USS Stickell GTA-6 $5.00 Beck 588 USS Aucilla GTA-6 $6.00 Beck 914 USS Seattle Flag Day 74 $3.50 Beck 902 USS Independence AF Day $3.00 Beck 939 USS S Carolina FDIC $3.00 Beck 66 USS McGinty LDPS $2.50 Beck 957 USS D B Beary Columbus Day $2.00 Beck 20 USS Alstede 16th Anniv $2.50 Beck 572 USS Davidson Comm $2.50 Beck 374 USS McCloy Comm $2.50 Beck 628 USS Grayling Launch $4.00 Beck 921 USS Blue Ridge July 4 74 $2.50 Beck 587 USS Basilone GTA-6 $4.00 Beck 582 USS Rupertus GTA-6 $4.00 Beck 579 USS Ponchatoula GTA-6 $4.00 Beck 569 USS New GT-5 $8.00 Beck 568 USS New GT-5 $4.00 Beck 567 USS Neosho GT-5 $4.00 Beck 566 USS James C Owens GT-5 $6.12 Beck 670 USS Norris GTA-10 $4.00 Beck 704 USS Ozbourn GTA-12 $5.00 Beck 282 USS Luce 4th July $3.99 BIN=Buy It Now on eBay or in eBay Store July 2008-May 2009 Prices HERE
Scans courtesy of Charlie Hamilton	Insert Found inside Beck Cover #74 From 1962 At left is an interesting scan sent to us by Charlie Hamilton. He found the insert in a Beck cover 74 he recently obtained. We're not sure if the Bainbridge put this insert into the cover or if the original collector added the insert later. If you have any information about this insert please let us know. Note two other additions to the listings: B317 USS Kearsarge B411 USS England showing another example of the two small rubber stamps the ship applied to the covers.
	29 Scans of Unlisted and Rare Beck Covers Many thanks to Eddie Bizub for sending in 29 scans of Beck covers to fill in some blank spaces in our listing. Many unlisted covers that are probably one-of-a-kind covers. All these covers are scarce Beck Space issues and from the original collection of the late Richard Learn. Eddie of Liberty Bell 7 Space Covers purchased covers from Richards estate. We appreciate his efforts to get us scans of all these covers so that more Beck collectors can enjoy the covers. We've added the scans to the listings by Beck cover number. At left and below we show thumbnails of the scans. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger photo.
Scan courtesy of Luc Jallot CREW cover for USS Bole. USS Bole cover on B318. The only difference between the two covers shown above is the top is a CREW (no B number and the lower cover has B318 printed on it at the bottom of the cachet.	B318 CREW Cover Found in France Luc Jallot in France has reported finding a CREW cover from Cooper's flight postmarked on USS Bole. This is the only CREW cover we have seen of B318. According to Mr. Beck's printing log, B318 was designated for USS Bole. WHAT IS A CREW COVER? For each of the space issues and some other issues, Mr. Beck sent 25 printed envelopes to the US Navy. These did not have, postage stamps, addresses or the "B" number on the cover. The 25 covers were a gift from Mr. Beck to the ship's Captain and crew for handling the batch of collector's covers. This is why it is called a CREW cover. Most of the CREW covers were given to senior crew members or VIPs on the ship. Most of these people receiving the covers were not collectors and to them, the cover was just a memento of the space flight. Most of these covers are forever lost and either destroyed or sitting in some box of old navy papers that will never be seen again by collectors. That is why these CREW covers are so valuable. More CREW Cover Examples Scans courtesy of Eddie Bizub from the collection of David Ball.
Join the USCS and enjoy collecting covers from Naval ships. Most of Beck's covers were Naval covers.	Universal Ship Cancellation Society Click THIS Link for the membership form. Fill out the form and mail it with your dues to the address on the form. Today the non-profit USCS has over 1,200 worldwide members and offer many resources for collectors. The monthly USCS LOG publication (included with membership) is packed with information about naval covers, ships, how to order postcards, history, and addresses of ships to send for your own postmarks from US Navy ships. SEE MORE
The Space Unit specializes in the topic of Space. Beck's most popular covers are the covers produced for the US Manned space flights. The publication contains information about space covers that you will not find anywhere else. Join today!	Space Topic Study Unit of the ATA and APS The Space Unit is a non-profit organization of hobbyists devoted to the collection and study of covers and stamps issued on space themes. It has a world wide membership and is the largest independent astrophilatelic society in the world. Members receive 6 magazines each year and members only auctions of space related covers and stamps. Click THIS Link for the membership form. Print and complete the form and mail it with your dues to the address on the form. Or Click Here for more details.
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Please note that the naval covers illustrated on this Web site are for reference only.
This is a private Web site for the enjoyment of collectors of navy covers.
There are no paid ads or sponsorships on this site.

Naval covers have been popular since about the time of Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. A naval cover is an envelope or postcard postmarked on board a naval ship. The cover might commemorate a naval event such as a keel laying, launching or commissioning of a navy ship. Other covers are simply sailor’s mail that now has historical value for the postmark on the US Navy cover.

Collecting memorabilia from US Navy ships is a very interesting hobby and shares a piece of US Navy history. Some people collect pictures, ash trays, lighters, photos, launching or commissioning programs, US Navy patches, and envelopes or postcards postmarked aboard US Navy ships. Similar in appearance to a first day cover, a naval cover commemorates a US Navy event or simply be sailor’s mail sent home with a letter enclosed. In any case, these covers are very collectable.

Today, the Universal Ship Cancellation Society, USCS, in an international society where collectors of US Navy ship covers and postcards exchange information about their favorite collecting interests. See the link to the USCS. If you are not a member of the USCS, please consider joining.

Many collectors specialize in a special type of naval covers or envelopes. Some US Navy veterans have a special interest in the ships they served on. Ships like destroyers, aircraft carriers, submarines, battleship, etc. Some collectors of first day covers or FDCs also collect navy covers as a specialty.

The US NASA manned space program and the US Navy recovery ships are also very popular subjects for naval covers. The US Navy postmarks from the US Navy ships in the Atlantic or Pacific fleet that picked up the US space astronauts like John Glenn, Neil Armstrong or others are very popular. One of the most desirable modern naval covers is from the USS Hornet that picked up the astronauts, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins after the Moon landing Apollo 11 NASA mission. Dozens of US Navy ships participated in the US Space recovery program including, USS Hornet, USS Wasp, USS Intrepid, USS Lake Champlain, USS Guam, USS Mason, USS Randolph, USS Ticonderoga, USS Iwo Jima, USS Kearsarge, USS Okinawa, USS Essex, USS New Orleans, USS Guadalcanal, USS Bennington, and many others. All astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab programs were recovered by US Navy ships. There are covers for most of these events. The covers for the earliest manned space flights are among the hardest to find. Some of the most popular covers are for aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers, battleships, and other types of US Navy ships.

Over the years there have been many individuals and groups produce some very attractive naval covers for US Navy events and space events including Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab manned space flights. Morris W. Beck was a collector of US Navy covers and started a service to provide other collectors with quality printed US Navy, space covers, and first day covers.

Beck served in the US Navy during World War II aboard a US Navy Destroyer. Morris W. Beck covers are well known among collectors. Beck produced a very popular series of 1000 US Navy event covers 1962-1975. Beck’s effort was a labor of love and his charge to service covers for collectors was only pennies per cover. This web site is dedicated to the US Navy event covers, president series, state series, nuclear ships and first day covers (FDC) produced by Morris W. Beck.