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wouldn%u2019t let him have any more space.) Over the next few years, Mark and I became friends, and he shared a great deal of his philately knowledge with me. I eventually purchased a number of covers from him for my own expanding collections. Early on, I mentioned that I had sold him my set of Prexie First Day Cover many years before, but he couldn%u2019t recall the transaction. However, he did say he probably still had the set%u2014somewhere.In late 2021, I got curious as to whether or not Mark did actually still have my old set of covers. He told me he%u2019d need to search for them, but after a couple of months he was finally able to determine that he didn%u2019t have them any more. By then, my interest in Prexie First Day Covers had grown substantially, so when I found a complete set on eBay, I decided to buy it. While this set couldn%u2019t possibly have the same sentimental value as the set I had as a boy, it did have some real plusses. First of all, it was a very complete set, and included stamps from booklet panes and coils, which my earlier set lacked. Plus, each cover was neatly addressed to the same individual, an Indiana collector named Walter H. Lupke. And they all had matching cachets by Harry Ioor, just like my old set. Because Ioor was from Indianapolis, they are very much an Indiana set of covers.After a bit of research, I learned that besides being a philatelist, Walter Lupke had something else in common with Ronald Derrick%u2014he was very civic minded. He was President of the Allen County Board of Public Welfare, and a director of the Lupke Foundation which promoted religious, charitable, and educational projects. In addition, he was heavily involved with the local Tuberculous Association, the Kiwanis Club, Lutheran Hospital, and Concordia Lutheran Church. He also had his own insurance agency, and he was a member of several regional and national insurance associations. Walter died at the age of 74 in 1969. I thought it might be interesting to know where my new set of Prexie First Day Covers had been during the 50+ years between Walter%u2019s death and the time I bought them. The eBay seller I purchased them from was located in Lerna, Illinois%u2014a very small town about 50 miles west of Terre Haute. His name was Frank, and he said he acquired them less than three months earlier through an eBay auction from a stamp dealer in Goshen, Indiana. When I spoke to that dealer, Larry Gautsche, he told me he bought and sold a lot of collections, and just couldn%u2019t recall where he had obtained them. So I was only able to trace the set's heritage back a few months, which leaves several decades of unknown ownership. Based on their condition, whoever had them took great care of them. Perhaps it was one person, perhaps several in succession. I'll never know.While I don%u2019t recall the year I bought the Prexie covers from that boy in Lafayette, it was likely in 1959 or %u201960 when I was 10 or 11 years of age. If Dad had invested his $100 in a savings account earning 4% compounded interest back then, after 60 years it would have grown to $1,051.96%u2014far more than the $200 I paid for Walter Lupke%u2019s set of covers in 2022. If he were alive today, Dad would agree that his investment hadn't been a great one. However, as a non-collector, that would have been the extent of his interest. He wouldn%u2019t have cared about the information written above, nor would he have read the captions I%u2019ve created for each of the covers. It would not have mattered to him who the designers, engravers, and printers were who were involved in crafting the stamps. Or, that philatelists have continued to enjoy and trade such First Day Covers for several decades. For him, the only focus would be monetary%u2014just like the boy I bought that set from so many decades ago. On the other hand, as an avid collector, I find these covers fascinating, and am pleased to include then in this album. First Day Covers