About Art Cover Exchange
Art, Philately, Friendship and Correspondence
The History of the Art Cover Exchange
In 1935, Leonard J. Turley, ACE 001, formed the original Art Cover Exchange, known as the Ace of Clubs. His concept was simple: “Send a cover with a handmade cachet to a member and receive one in return.”
Using ingenuity, members mailed covers from post offices with names like Bald Knob, WV, and painted an appropriate cachet. Special cachets were sent to commemorate birthdays, seasonal and religious holidays and special events.
Most important was the cover and the exchange. Everyone was welcome to draw or paint in their own style, write a friendly message, affix postage and send a cover to another member.
More recently, the descendants of Leonard Turley (Chris Glessner Kirk, Dixie Glessner and Edith Medley) revived the Art Cover Exchange. The concept of the original club continues and the goals remain the same — a club for pleasure, not for profit.
Today, in addtion to hand-drawn or painted art, members use a variety of artistic methods for decorating their covers, including computer art, stickers, rubber stamps, collage and just about anything else that will adhere to a cover and go through the mails.
The late Judith Fogt, ACE member and American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS) member, wrote a series of installments pertaining to the Art Cover Exchange, entitled "The Art Cover Exchange: Then and Now." The articles appeared in the AFDCS' journal First Days back in late-1989 and 1990. The series is a fairly detailed history of both the "old" and "new" ACE groups. That article can be read, in its entirety, by clicking the link below. The articles are reproduced with permission by the AFDCS.
The Art Cover Exchange: Then and Now