The Ulrich Loeffler autograph and space collection

Beautiful handdrawn sketch by space artist Detlev van Ravenswaay signed by Neil Armstrong

February 2013 represents a milestone in our company's history when we got the chance to acquire one of the finest - if not the finest - space cover and autograph collection in world.

The history :

Ulrich Loeffler from Esslingen / Germany was born in 1936 and soon started to collect space stamps and covers after the war in the 1950, he was a collector "of the first hour" and remained so until his untimely death in 2003. Mr. Loeffler was not only one of the biggest collectors in the world, he also compiled one of the largest archive of cover fakes and autograph forgeries of those days and can certainly be considered a pioneer of fighting fraud. His incredible reference collection of more than 100 binders full of material (not of duplicates!) allowed him to compare postmarkers and cachet and while remaining very private he was involved in uncovering many fraud schemes of that time (1960-1990s). He already kept contact in an Internet-free world of that time with collectors and dealers all around the world and especially in the US. He was also very active collection signatures of astronauts through the mail and had contact with many astronauts such as Jim Irwin and others.

After his passing in 2003 his collection remained untouched until now - almost 10 years later when we had the chance to acquire one of the greatest astrophilatelic collection of all times.

The collection :

Ulrich Loeffler spent a lot of time (and money !) to always be one step ahead of others, so while others collected crewsigned launch covers, he collected crewsigned mission patch or insurance launch covers. While others collected crewsigned recovery covers, he collected crewsigned captain covers or Beck cachet covers.  While others dreamed of owning just one MR-3 USS Lake Champlain cover, he collected 6 varieties incl. Alan Shepard signed ones.

Many of these covers were hidden for more than 40 years and never been published anywhere or shown at exhibitions.

We have created this page to show some of the finest space covers and while certainly the highend covers are the most interesting ones, the true gems are among those we don't really know yet...unknown cachet varities, rare postmarkers etc.

Availability :

We have just started to add the first items in our "New arrivals" section available for purchase. Please check by the coming days, weeks and probably months to see more exiting offers. We are happy to take your offers or want lists for any items you don't see there.

Big Joe Mercury test - early precursor - no covers were made for this test

8x10 Mercury recovery photo signed by Alan Shepard, recovery pilot and C.O USS Lake Champlain

Alan Shepard MR-3 launch cover signed by him and annotated by Robert Gilruth

...and one of the rarest launch covers for MR-3 - Spacecraft airmail cover signed by Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard signed recovery photo

Mercury MR-3 USS Lake Champlain prime recovery ship cover - helicopter pilot cover

An actual landing cover Bahamas - Mercury MR-3 - believed to be rarer than the Lake Champlain covers

Mercury MR-3 USS Lake Champlain prime recovery ship cover - signed by Alan Shepard

Virgil I. Grissom signed MR-4 "Countdown begins" cover - certainly unique !

MR-4 launch cover PAFB signed by Virgil I. Grissom and Wernher von Braun

Mercury MR-4 USS Randolph prime recovery ship cover signed by Virgil I. Grissom and helicopter pilot

...and a matching helicopter cover USS Randolph Mercury MR-4

Early space monkey cover - Spacecraft cachet

Mercury MA-6 USS Noa prime recovery ship without Mercury stamp signed by John Glenn

Stunning Mercury MA-9 recovery photo signed by Gordon Cooper

Mercury MA-9 tracking station cover signed by Gus Grissom as Capcom

Gemini 3 USS Intrepid Captain cover

Edward White II signed First EVA photo - not personalized

Gemini 4 prime recovery ship cover USS Wasp signed by Edward White and James McDivitt

Gemini 5 USS Lake Champlain prime recovery ship cover with Beck cachet - crewsigned

Gemini 7 launch cover with red NASA cachete signed by the crew

Gemini 7 Captain cover USS Wasp signed by the crew, helicopter pilot and commanding officers

Possibly the rarest crewsigned US space cover - Gemini 8 prime recovery ship

USS Leonard Mason, signed by Armstrong and Scott

Gemini 9 crewsigned launch cover KSC signed by the crew

Michael Collins signed Gemini 10 launch cover with rare cachet

Gemini 10 prime recovery ship cover USS Guadalcanal signed by the crew

Gemini 12 prime recover ship USS Wasp - signed by Aldrin + Lovell

...and a matching crewsigned Gemini 12 Captain cover

Ted Freeman signed cover

Apollo 1 fire - rare KSC cover from the day of the fire with the planned NASA cachet

One of the rarest NASA cachets - Saturn SA-10 testflight

Matching Apollo 7 KSC launch cover set - signed by the crew

Apollo 8 launch cover KSC with official NASA cachet - signed by the crew

Apollo 8 MSC stamp club FDC signed by the crew

Rare W.A.Anders autograph

Apollo 8 FDC signed by the Apollo 8 backup commander - Neil Armstrong

Apollo 9 crewsigned launch cover KSC

Apollo 10 launch cover KSC with official NASA cachet signed by the crew

Very rare Apollo 10 Captain cover

Apollo 11 launch cover signed by Wernher von Braun, Kurt Debus and Hans Gruene

Richard Nixon signed Apollo 11 launch cover

Apollo 11 launch cover set KSC - signed by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

Buzz Aldrin signed Apollo 11 launch cover with famous quote

Neil Armstrong signed launch photo

Apollo 11 moonlanding cover signed by Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong signed Belgian stamp block - ex Sieger series

Apollo 11 landing cover with cachet "That's one small step" - Armstrong never liked to quote himself

Apollo 11 crewsigned TWA Apollo 11 launch cover

Apollo 11 crewsigned photo

Apollo 11 recovery photo signed by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

Apollo 11 flown cover A-73 - signed by the crew

Apollo 11 crewsigned USS Hornet recovery cover

...and a nice variety of the USS Hornet cover

...and the Captain cover USS Hornet signed by Captain Seiberlich

Apollo 11 first anniversary cover set signed by the first and last man to walk on the moon :

Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan

Apollo 12 VIP card launch KSC - signed by the crew

Apollo 13 "Insurance cover" signed by all four astronauts

Apollo 13 "mission abort" cover Houston signed by the crew and Ken Mattingly

Apollo 13 USS Iwo Jima recovery cover signed by the crew, captain and recovery pilot

Apollo 13 beta cloth patch signed by James Lovell

Apollo 14 VIP launch card KSC signed by the crew

Apollo 14 recovery photo signed by commander Alan Shepard

Apollo 14 prime recovery ship USS New Orleans signed by the crew, recovery pilot, C.O and others

Apollo 15 Captain cover USS Okinawa signed by the crew

Apollo 16 crewsigned USS Ticonderoga prime recovery ship cover

Apollo 17 Captain cover signed by the crew

...and a flown helicopter cover signed by the recovery pilot and the crew

ASTP cover signed by both US and Russian crews

First six female US astronauts signed cover

Challenger STS-51 L pilot signed uninscribed NASA litho

Beautiful Airbrush artwork by famous NASA designer William Numeroff

Beautiful handdrawn first day cover by space artist Detlev van Ravenswaay

to be continued....