First Day Cover Collecting

With Americover just around the corner, About.Com Stamp Collecting Guide John Finch pens an interesting article about The Styles of First Day Covers.

In the piece that appears on the About.com website, John outlines a few of the most accepted ways of collecting First Day Covers (FDCs).

These include....

• By Cachet Maker
• By Stamp
• By Time Period
• By Topic 

How Do You Obtain FDCs?
According to the American First Day Cover Society, "Collectors may buy envelopes, apply the stamps and send them to the USPS for servicing (canceling). The instructions for doing this are in the USPS’s Postal Bulletin [or in the News Release Section on their website] or in collector publications or websites. Or the covers may be purchased ready made from cachetmakers or stamp dealers."

Shown above, the first "cacheted" FDC. It was created by George Linn, founder of Linn's Stamp News, to commemorate the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923.

To read the entire article, click here.