Now and then every stamp collector comes across an item that he, or she, thinks is a treasure or perfect opportunity for investment. This is a story about just such an item.
On July 25, 1976, NASA's Viking I orbiter took a photograph of a remnant massif located in the Cydonia region of Mars. The image was released a week later, it became an overnight sensation. The peculiar geological features in the photograph resembled a large human head. Over the years varying theories as to the origin of the "Face on Mars" came about. Some people believed the feature was actually the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. Despite NASA declaring the images were simply the result of lighting and peculiar geological formations people continued to believe aliens built a base on Mars.
In 1990, an enterprising mail-order mogul, Alan Shawn Feinstein, saw an opportunity and ran with it. Working with the government of Sierra Leone he had a set of souvenir sheets printed featuring images of mars, the orbiter, astronomers and of course the now famous "Face on Mars" image. The price for the set of five souvenir sheets, a whopping $135.00. With the set of stamps a letter was included explaining the future investment potential, only 3,000 sets of the sheets were printed.
Advertisements for the souvenir sheets began showing up in philatelic publications around the world. Driven by demand from collectors and speculators It did not take long before the price of the souvenir sheets began to rise. Soon the sheets were selling for thousands of dollars. In time, cooler heads prevailed and the true value of the souvenir sheets was realized. They basically were not worth the paper they were printed on. Prices plummeted, individuals, businesses and auction houses lost thousands of dollars, some went out of business.
Working with young stamp collectors is a joy. Occasionally we receive a donation containing a set of these "rare, valuable" items. We happily hand them over to children interested in space topics, tell this story and advise the young collector to beware of spurious items. All that glitters is not gold, more is not always better, buyer beware and there is a sucker born every minute.
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