Two examples of Beck covers produced for the USS Robert A Owens during the unmanned AS202 (Apollo 3) mission. Note that the top cover is a rarer Beck cover without a number. The second is the equivalent B698 numbered cover. Numbered Beck covers were printed by Morris Beck for collectors while unnumbered Beck covers were produced for the crews of various Recovery ships. The unnumbered covers are usually referred to as CREW covers. See Ray Cartier's excellent 'Primary Recovery Ship Cover Handbook' and 'The Beck Handbook of Printed Cachets' compiled by Les Winick with cooperation of the Space unit for more details. The bottom illustration shows the back of these covers where the ship's cachet has been applied. This is normal for USS Robert A Owens' covers from this mission.

Kindly submitted by Dr Ross Smith