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The stuffer card inside this unsigned FDC says it is "a product of local talent" in Marcelline, Mo., his birthplace. What's especially interesting, though, is the typed address, to someone in the Italian Consulate in New York.

Collins Cachets are printed and then hand-colored, and renowned for their good designs. This one is for the No.10 space hologram envelope, Sc. U617, the first hologram stamp or indicia ever issued by the U.S.

Sc. 2841, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first landing on the moon, had its official first day in Washington, but other cities had special cancellations. This one is from Hampton, Va., but I don't recall the tie-in with the Moon Landing. It's an "unofficial-city"/combination FDC, since the 1969 stamp issued a few months after the actual landing is also affixed. Also of note: Marg cachets were originally produced by a Midwestern advertising agency for use on FDCs used for advertising: They were not sold to collectors, but sent to executives the advertisers wanted to woo. Later, Marg began to produce FDCs for collectors, and this must be one of them, since it is unaddressed.

This, believe it or not, is a football hologram envelope, Sc. U618, issued in Green Bay, Wis. Cachetmaker Hideaki Nakano claims in a label on theback that "This football shape envelope was made by unfolding the original envelope and refolding it in another way. No cutting was ever made." The black lettering is on pieces of paper pasted onto the cover. The green lettering and red pictograph are rubber stamps, and Nakano's initials were written with a blue ballpoint pen.

Lloyd A. de Vries
©2003 de Vries Philatelic Media