First day cover

A first day cover (FDC) is a souvenir and record of the first day of issue of a stamp or set of stamps. They date back to when new issue release dates were announced in the early 1900s, with cancels for regular mail being used. This evolved into adding cachets, then special pictorial cancels and most recently, even digital color postmarks (DCP). First day covers are not the only vehicle for first day cancels. There are also special sheets and folders that have been produced over the years.

Cachets range from single-color prints to engraved designs to unique or limited hand-painted designs. There are also "silk" fabric cachets (woven polyester with a self-adhesive backing), metal plates, encapsulated coins and medallions.

Unofficial FDCs are covers cancelled at places other than the official designated post office. These can be normal town cancels or pictorial event cancels, something more unique than the run-of-the-mill.

Dual cancel FDCs have first day cancels from more than one town or office. FDCs exist like this for a joint issue of two different countries. In the case of the US, there is a grace period for submitting covers for first day cancels, enabling cover makers to obtain that official cancel late.

Posthumous cachets do exist, added to uncacheted covers even decades after the first day. While some artists are popular and collected, be aware that these are not always identified as being posthumous.

Collections of first day covers, particularly of the US from the 1960s on, were heavily promoted and are extremely common. So, they are worth little, particularly when addressed.

The earliest cacheted FDCs up to the 1950s, are generally addressed. Anything without probably had a pencil address erased then or later. Stamps preceding the FDC era were often released without a general announcement. There, postal historians look for earliest known uses (EKU) or earliest recorded uses (ERU).

 File:Japan FDC.jpg|Japan 1963 Philatelic Week cacheted FDC. File:US wave FDC DCP.jpg|US $1 wave definitive uncacheted DCP FDC. File:US Geronimo Collins FDC.jpg|US Geronimo FDC, Dorothy Collins handpainted cachet. File:US Man on moon unof FDC.jpg|US Man on the Moon FDC, unofficial city. File:US Morocco dual FDC.jpg|US/Morocco joint issue, dual cancel FDC. 