Collecting First Day Covers

If you are interested in the historical, geographical and cultural facts surrounding the issuance of a particular stamp, then collecting first day covers may be just your thing.

A first day cover consists of an envelope on which a newly issued stamp has been affixed, and then postmarked on the date that the stamp was first available for use in the mails. Often there is an offically-designated location, and a cancellation from that location, on the first day of issue, is desirable.

There are three basic elements of a first day cover:

1. The stamp
2. The postmark
3. The cachet (optional but desirable, a cachet is a graphic design on the envelope itself that relates to the stamp in some way). The cachet often incorporates some information about the subject of the stamp.

Although some first day covers are quite scarce and demand quite high prices, there are thousands of other first day covers that are readily available and sell for $1.00 or less.