Space Travel Collection

This is a unique collection which stretches from the beginnings of space travel to the present day. The collection contains space stamps, postcards, first day covers, postmarks, astronaut and cosmonaut autographs, commemorative cards, photographs, philatelic blocks and special space postmarks. We can define this collection as historical inasmuch as the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic no longer exist, and also because many of the autographs in the collection are by people no longer alive.

            The origins of the collection lie with an engineer by the name of Babushkin who was a high-ranking officer working at the space centre. Through his connections he was able to get hold of many Soviet and foreign postal service envelopes, stamps and postmarks, and he was also on good personal and friendly terms with the cosmonauts who were trained and who flew at the space centre. (Their correspondence can be found in the collection.) In old age he sold the collection on to a famous Donetsk collector who subsequently fell ill and in turn sold it on to a collector in Subcarpathia who himself eventually moved to Hungary. The collection was expanded by Hungarian stamps and the addition of two more, smaller collections and it thus developed to its present size. The earlier owner had corresponded with Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, from 1961 until the latter’s death in 1968. Thereafter he corresponded with Gagarin’s family, and the autographs of Gagarin’s mother, wife and daughter are also included in the collection.

            The collection is mainly from the Soviet Union, the postmarks and letters are chiefly from Moscow, Baikonur, Star City (which previously had been a ‘green’ city), Baku, Archangelsk and Kiev. Many of them are in celebration of specific anniversaries, such as Twenty Years of Space Research, First Man in Space, Joint Missions, International Missions, World Space Travel Day on April 12, special philatelic issues, and others. The collection includes cosmonauts from the Socialist countries as well as stamps, blocks, first day covers and autographs of astronauts from America, including Neil Armstrong, Slyton Donald, Brand Vance, William Palles and others. Part of the collection is made up of the correspondence of these ‘space travellers’ and related newspaper articles, replicas, and books which are signed. There are the signatures of Gagarin’s trainer and the correspondence of the space centre’s directors and their signatures. Also the signatures of the grandson of Tsiolkovsky, the ‘father’ of space travel who was the director of the Kaluga Space Museum. There are printing errors, the first space First Day Covers, group photos with original signatures, e.g. Gagarin, Titov, Popov, Tereshkova, etc. They also include the signatures of Brezhnev and Gorbachev.

            Especially significant are the space postmarks which were stamped by the astronauts themselves on the space station. (The ‘Klocskó Catalogue’ is attached with examples and prices.) Also included are the French catalogues especially devoted to space travel, with illustrations and examples of signatures, with which we can easily check the authenticity of all the space travel autographs. They also contain the dollar values of postmarks, letters and stamps. There is also a US auctioneer’s catalogue containing numerous examples of the envelopes and photographs to be found in this collection.

Number of items in the whole collection

Stamp collection

Stamp albums                                                                    13

Total space travel stamps                                                 4789

Total space travel blocks                                                  506

Total autographed stamps                                                           1525

Collection of envelopes, photos and autographs

Large albums                                                                     48

Large photo albums                                                                      12

Small albums                                                                     38

Total signed space travel envelopes                              1968

Total space travel autographs                                         5296

Total signed photos and postcards                                 511

Total First Day Covers, special and commemorative postmarks, envelopes, with stamps, unsigned                                                            2866

Unselected, mixed, franked envelopes with and without stamps, unsigned and not in albums

Total                                                                                     2794

List of contents can be found at the back of each album!

The collection contains the signatures of American and Soviet astronauts/cosmonauts, in various combinations, as well as those of foreign cosmonauts who flew with the Soviets, e.g. from Syria, Afghanistan, Romania, Germany, India, Japan, Hungary, Vietnam, Poland, Ukraine, etc.

The collection also contains a great deal of correspondence, newspaper articles and photos relating to collecting, copies, requests, signed and dedicated space travel books and catalogues which deal especially with space travel.

Oldal: Space Travel Collection
Astronautical stamp and autograph collection - © 2008 - 2024 - urbelyeg.hupont.hu

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