Enevelopes postmarked at the 1978 Worldcon.
It’s not too late to spend gobs of money on that special fannish someone.
Today on eBay you can get a 3-piece set of items postmarked at the 1978 Worldcon bearing the Viking mission to Mars stamp for a mere $1,000.
Are they really worth all that? Perhaps it’s the fact that the cancellation reads “Iguanacon 1” whereas the name of the event was “IguanaCon II,” though I doubt it can be claimed the mistake makes them more valuable (like that upside-down airplane stamp) — there wouldn’t have been any cancellations with the correct name.
Besides, those collectible postmarks look like a bargain compared with the asking price for an autographed first edition of Fahrenheit 451 with the rare asbestos binding – yours for only $16,000.
More frugal fans can still delight their friends with other affordable goodies.
Hallmark is offering a Frankenstein’s Monster Christmas Ornament for $14.95:
Remember the chills and thrills of the first time Frankenstein’s Monster came to life every time you hang it from your tree.
I’m sure I will…
Or Restoration Hardware is advertising a more conventional gift, Planet Robot, for $29.95.
Nostalgic for the whiz-bang, wind-up charm of vintage tin toys, we found these spot-on reproductions, meant to call forth the child within every adult. Reminiscent of a 1950s sci-fi movie robot, this emissary from Planet Robot is at your command. Wind him up and he’ll walk gamely forward, with sparks flying behind his transparent face shield.
Walking gamely forward while sparks fly — say, don’t these sound like ready-made convention volunteers?
[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh and John King Tarpinian for the story.]
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I’ve got one of the four, at least. And since it is my art that is the cancellation on those envelopes, my set should be worth oodles *more* than a mere $1,000 right?
Certainly deserves to be! It’s finding someone able to write a check worth oodles that’s the real trick.
“Reminiscent of a 1950s sci-fi movie robot”? “Reminiscent”? How about “an almost precise facsimile of one of the most famous robots in cinematic history from a specific 1950s sci-fi movie”?
A book that is a health hazard?
I have a set of the Iguanacon cancellations somewhere, deeply buried among other ephemera gathered over decades. I’m trying to remember who the artists were. I’m pretty sure the upper right is by Joan Hanke-Woods. The “Viking On Mars” might be by Don Hardy. The upper left… Jackie Franke, maybe? Taral mentions a fourth envelope; an ancient neuron twitches and coughs up a cloud of dust to suggest it might have been by Steve Fabian.
I said I had one of the four “gifts” mentioned by Mike, and didn’t mean to imply that there were four envelopes with the Iggy II post mark. For the record, there are only three.
The Iguanodons are by Don Davis. The iguada-dragon is by George Barr. And “Viking on Mars” is the work of Robert T. McCall. Why isn’t it an Iguana? Because it matches the Viking Mission to Mars postage stamp. You may also notice that the cancellations are for 1, 2 and 3 September, not all the same day.
There was also a Minicon 30 post office in 1995, with its own cancellation over a pair of Lunar Rover 8-cent stamps and a First Man Landing 29-cent stamp. The artwork shows a dirigible and the MSFS club logo … but I don’t know who did the art.
For some odd reason I keep these with my small stamp collection rather than with my fanzines — I may reason that it is easier to find them there.
Thanks, Taral. Clearly, in a science fiction trivia contest, I would suck at art questions.