Ellie on Planet X

Ray Robinson is a collector of first day of issue covers – stamps that have been cancelled on an envelope on their first day of issue. What makes the ones he collects special is that he combines them with his other hobby of collecting comic character sketches. I was thrilled when he asked for Ellie on an envelope with this really cool Project Mercury stamp from 1962. I was also scared to death that I’d mess up and ruin it. I mean, this stamp is older than I am!

Here’s a closer look at the stamp which commemorates the program that launched John Glenn as the first American to orbit the Earth.

You can see more of Ray’s First Day of Issue Covers, featuring some really amazing artists, at his blog comicfdc.blogspot.com.

Thanks for the honor, Ray!

UPDATED:

Ellie reader Carsten wanted to know if there were any stamps with our favorite robotic explorer on them from back when she was launched, and if we could see any of them. It took me a bit to find one, but voila!

I’m pretty sure there were several more.