‘The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Phantom’ was created by Phantom comic strip artist Wilson McCoy, in the 1950’s, in USA.

Although not officially a Phantom club in the traditional sense, Wilson McCoy created a membership certificate (measuring 9” x 11”) with a ‘gold seal’ which he would mail out to those fans who wrote to him. He also personally signed the certificate, which was witnessed by his wife Dorothy (who also assisted him on Phantom comic strips). He would often mail out an original daily comic strip he had drawn and send that out with the membership certificate.

No known advertisements or promotions are known to exist asking fans to join The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Phantom. The membership certificates were simply a nice way for Wilson McCoy to thank fans for writing to him.

Below we see two examples of The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Phantom membership certificates. The certificate on the left contains his ‘tag’ as seen on Wilson McCoy’s Phantom comic strips and the second certificate on the right contains his actual signature.

The ‘gold seal’ as can be seen in the lower left of the membership certificate stating, ‘My Seal – The Phantom – Wilson McCoy’.

A special Christmas edition of the membership certificate was issue by Wilson McCoy, with the wording ‘Merry Christmas And A Prosperous New Year’ added on the right hand side. The date line on the left has also been amended to state ‘Dec’ followed by the year of issue.

Over the years, The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Phantom membership certificates have been reproduced, commonly without the ‘gold seal’. See an example of a membership certificate reproduction below.

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