Society News and Space Stamp News

 

 

Bespoke Covers

American based cover designer Nirlay Kundu is willing to design 40th Anniversary Apollo XI covers exclusively for ASSS members next Summer—more details to come. Have a look at his current work across a variety of subjects at britain.nirlay.com and nirlay-fdc.blogspot.com. His email address is nirloy@gmail.com

---

Monkey Business

Andy Swanston writes to say he has for years been looking for a stamp issued for Enos the Space Chimp. He enjoyed our issue no 71 (Oct 06) with the list of Animals in Space by John Beenen from which he noticed that Congo issued an Enos stamp with Enos and Ham shown in the margins. He has checked his Gibbons catalogue but finds these not listed. He is also aware of another unlisted Ham stamp from Niger in 1999.

Andy asks for the help of any ASSS member who can obtain these stamps mint for him and he is happy to pay all related costs. (429 Worsley Road, Winton Eccles, Manchester M30 8HG).

---

AIJP Conference

Below a cancel on a card sent to Bert van Eijck from a meeting in June 08 of the worldwide society of philatelic journalists. The card was sent by fellow ASSS member Bart Beimers and Arie Olckers, President of our Dutch sister society, both of whom participated in the world philatelic exhibition in the astro class.

---

Galileo Query

Orbitreader and contributor Ron Berger, who regards Galileo as one of his intellectual heroes is looking for a philatelic item (stamp, sheetlet, postal stationery) that shows the cover of Galileo's 1613 book on Sunspots where he describes himself as "Galileo Galilei Linceo" or, at least, that refers to it - there are several items showing Galileo and his telescope, and the book describes some of the discoveries he made by this instrument. He wants to do this to connect Galileo to his other theme which is "Big Cats" and "Linceo" refers to the Seventeenth Century Italian Academy of Lynxes, a study group of the natural world. If you can assist Ron with any information please contact him—Bergeron@012.net.il

---

Sale and Exchange?

Two non-members have contacted the Society asking if members are interested in dealing with them. Leung (contact ywleung@shaw.ca) is looking for material related to the Beijing 08 Olympics including MNH stamps/sheets, FDCs and stamped postal covers. In return he can exchange the same sort of material from Hong Kong.

Michaela Seifertova has a large collection of space stamps and covers (many with cosmonaut signatures) from Soviet bloc countries which she would like to sell, having first contacted our Chairman Margaret Morris for advice. If you are interested contact her for more details : Michaele .seifertova @gma il.com.

---

New Astrophilatelic Association founded in Italy

Another blank space in the European landscape of organized astrophilately has been filled: 15 Italian astrophilatelists have established AS.IT.AF, the Italian Astrophilately Association.

Aimed as a reference point for space stamp and cover collectors in Italy, it was founded by a group of collectors with a solid experience in astrophilately and related aspects. "It aims at disseminating information on collecting, exchanging materials and sharing knowledge on how to participate to national and international exhibitions", says former ASSS member Umberto Cavallaro, the President of AS.IT.AF. and one of the founding members.

ASITAF will be affiliated with the Federation of the Italian Philatelic Societies. A quarterly newsletter is planned, covering information on astrophilatelic and space events, with a particular focus on Italy.

"We are currently 15 members and we expect to grow a little more in the next few months", Cavallaro adds. Paolo d'Angelo has been elected Vice President, and the Steering Committee consists of Luigi Bussolino, Giovannni Martina and Annibale Rega. ASSS member Pietro delta Maddalena serves as auditor. The annual fee is 30 Euro, and a membership application is available in Italian and English.

Contact: AS.IT.AF, c/o Umberto Cavallaro — Via dei Platani 6/5 — 10090 Villarbasse (Torino) — Italy.

email ucavallaro@alice.it
Thanks to Jurgen Esders for this information.

---

Weltraum Philatelie elects new leadship: Jurgen P. Esders now V.P.

German astrophilatelists have a new leadership: four months after the sudden death of their long time President Peter Wilhelm, the members of 'Weltraum Philatelie' have unanimously selected a new Board. The new board wants to open the society to new aspects of the hobby while maintaining its high standing in the classical field of showing astrophilataelic collections in competitive exhibitions.

During the General Meeting of the association in mid-April in the German city of Stuttgart, Florian Noller, 31 years old self-employed, was elected President. Noller had been serving as Vice President since 1997. Noller lives at Renningen near Stuttgart. He is also owner of a space memorabilia company, spaceflori.com.

Congratulations to long time ASSS member Jurgen Peter Esders, a WP Member for over 25 years, who has become Vice President. The 49 year old European Commission official and journalist has been editing the association's newsletter since the early 80's. Esders is also the International Director (Europe) of the American sister organization Space Unit and lives in the German capital, Berlin.

---

 

 

Back to Top