Rockets on Postage Stamps Quiz

OK, Gang,

Here is your rocket trivia quiz question for the day:

Which was the first U.S. postage stamp to depict a rocket/space vehicle?

timbucktoo said:

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This came before that.

Both of these stamps are incorrect. Keep searching! :blush:

We Have a Winner!!



U.S. Scott #976
1948 3¢ Fort Bliss Centennial

Fort Bliss was one of the first American military bases to test rockets and train people in their use. In 1946, many of the German scientists freed by U.S. spies in World War II were stationed at Fort Bliss. The facility remains a primary training ground for U.S. military rocket personnel and testing.

Also, looking very closely at a good image of the stamp, you will find a number of modes of transportation depicted inside the triangle...including a camel!

There are a lot of images packed into this small bit of paper.

Rockets and stamps... two of my favorites. There was a story about the Project Mercury stamp- they were sent to Post Offices in sealed packages with instructions to open only after the completion of the mission, just in case...

Hmmm. There might be some earlier stamp with a rocket that Google searching has not found yet. I tried Tsiolkovsly but so far no luck for an earlier date (Goddard got a stamp in 1964). Also, there may be some stamps with rockets that we're not thinking of, like say War of 1812 British rockets or ancient Chinese rockets. But the only War of 1812 stamps (showing rockets fired) that I found came out long after 1948.

So, that is also the earliest I found. Coincidentally, I am reading a great book about Wernher von Braun, and am currently reading about his time at Ft Bliss.

Some more stamp info from this link which was for an auction of a First Day Cover.

https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/15196807-2-us-fdc-el-paso-german-v-2-rocket-in-the-united-states

And the First Day Cover:



BTW - a stamp showing an ancient Chinese rocket, but the stamp is from 1999:

Nice finds, George! I may have to start a little side project and put together a rocket and space exploration topical stamp album. I have a large collection of worldwide stamps that would probably yield up quite a few examples. The USSR produced a lot, and many other countries put out Canceled-To-Order issues depicting U.S. and Russian space activities.

So, I thought I had found a rocket stamp from 1939.

And....well.... it *IS* a stamped image of a rocket.

But it's not a real postage stamp, it's a rubber stamping.

Of all places...... it was from an attempt at Rocket Mail in CUBA! There was a special green stamp (not S&H) created, but it shows an airplane, not a rocket (apparently a green version of and existing stamp, that later had the words "Experimento del Cohete Postal, Ano de 1939" overprinted onto all of them).

But the rubber cancellation stamping on First Day Covers DOES show a rocket (But technically does not count within the spirit of what would normally be considered a postage stamp). But the rocket with the mail failed, and all the other special "Experimento" green stamps were withdrawn.

More info:

https://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/000983.html




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UPDATE - Germany, 1933. This appears to be the new leader of earliest rocket stamp. Postage value of one German Mark.

https://www.sandafayre.com/philatelicarticles/rocketmailstamps.html

Rocket Mail Stamps
Experiments for the delivery of mail by rockets began during the early 1930s. One of these postal pioneers, Gerhard Zucker, conducted many Rocket Post trials that attracted a great deal of press attention. Several examples of the special stamps produced for these trials can be found in the collection, including a very scarce 1933 1 Mark black on yellow (without 3 Mark surcharge).

Numerous Rocket Mail tests were carried out in various countries and the sale of special stamps and souvenir flown covers helped the development of the technology in which Germany lead the way into and during the Second World War.

Despite those early high hopes including ship to shore, island to shore and even mountain to mountain rocket mail services, a number of spectacular failures doomed rocket mail as a viable entity. It never matched the promise of those grand old Airship flights, that for a while, delivered mail across large distances. Today rocket mail is primarily used for commemorative purposes.

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Some other interesting Rocket Mail stuff at this link:

https://home.ionet.net/~rocket/ROCKETB.HTM

Including this one with a cover:

This United States cover is EZ 8C1 in the E-Z Catalog. It is a cover from the "First American Rocket Airplane" flown on Feb. 23, 1936. It was also the first rocket mail to fly across a state line. It flew from New York to New Jersey. This cover is signed by Willy Ley (the originator of the flight and a well know science author in later years) and Fred Kessler (the promoter).

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There is a white paper printed "stamp" on the lower left that says "First American Rocket Airplane Flight", not a rubber stamping. But it has no postage value on it (unlike the non-rocket related stamp at upper right), so it does not seem to be a legitimate stamp for postage. And to the upper left, that appears to be a 2-color rubber stamping (and no postage value in any case).




The video below may be an earlier 1935 attempt by the same group, which, uh, did not quite make it to New Jersey.

[video=youtube;pRjWpdZVsV8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjWpdZVsV8[/video]