Page 17 - Demo

Several months after I started collecting Indiana%u2019s First Flight Covers and Highway Post Office Covers, I met with Mark Goodson at his State Farm Insurance office in Ellettsville. Mark had been president of the Bloomington Stamp Club for decades, and was primarily an aficionado of covers. We were getting together so I could purchase a few of his duplicates to add to my collections. Before showing me his dupes, Mark wanted me to see his extensive collection of First Day Covers for the 7%u00a2 Balloon Jupiter stamp. He said he had sold it to a friend, then later bought it back when the man went through a divorce. When I was a young philatelist in Lafayette, I knew there were two or three companies that made cachets for First Day Covers. But, until I looked through Mark%u2019s collection, I had no idea how many cachet producers there actually were, or that so many individuals painted their own cachets by hand. I was really impressed with the variety of material, and it inspired me to create my own collection. To get started, I bought a number of duplicate Jupiter covers from Mark, then picked up some from eBay. I also contacted a few collectors and dealers who had additional covers. After just a few months, I had about 50 covers, with many of the cachets represented by two examples%u2014one with a single stamp, and one with a block of four. Most were relatively common and not too expensive. I also assembled matched sets of plate-number blocks, and located several pieces of Balloon Jupiter ephemera, including a copy of the official program.Then, for more than a year, I failed to turn up any new Jupiter material. It was frustrating, because Mark%u2019s collection was so extensive, and mine didn%u2019t even come close to the breadth of his. So, in the spring of 2021, after President Biden announced that a third pandemic relief payment of $1,600 would go out to most Americans, I gave Mark a call to see if his collection happened to be for sale. It was, and I bought it for $1,200. It was a lot for me to spend, but it was money I hadn%u2019t expected to receive. Plus, I took comfort in the fact that my purchase helped give the country%u2019s sluggish economy a small boost. Mark%u2019s collection turned out to be far more impressive than I remembered. For example, I recalled a full sheet of Jupiter stamps, but I didn%u2019t remember it being signed by 4 significant individuals%u2014the United States Postmaster General, Lafayette%u2019s Postmaster, Donald Piccard (the Jupiter II balloon pilot), and Indiana%u2019s U.S. Representative Charles Halleck. Nor did I remember the plate-number block signed by both the stamp%u2019s designer and the modeler at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I had also forgotten the several pieces of ephemera, each of which was affixed with a stamp and first-day cancellation. In addition, there were many more of the scarce hand-painted cachets than I remembered.By the time I incorporated Mark%u2019s material, and re-organized this album, I had almost 130 different First Day Covers, some with interesting enclosures, along with a considerable amount of related material. Consequently, I had to expand my collection into a second binder. When I was finished, I ended up with about 30 duplicate covers, an extra set of matched plate-number blocks, and an extra program, which I assembled into their own album. Mark was kind enough to take it to an Indianapolis stamp show, where it sold for $125.Because my Balloon Jupiter collection was now far more extensive than I ever expected it to be, I didn%u2019t think I%u2019d be able to find any additional material to add. But I have since picked up several nice pieces of ephemera, and a number of additional covers. So I plan to continue looking.