First Day Covers

The first day covers are normally specially designed envelopes (and normally issued by the postal company)  on which one or more postage stamps are placed and franked (or cancelled) on the first day that they are put on sale, within the country or territory of the  stamp issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or overseas office.  There will usually be a first day of issue postmark. indicating the city and date where the item was first issued, and “first day of issue” is often used to refer to this postmark.

Unofficial first day of issue postmarks can also occur when a stamp collector purchases the stamps in question from a post office in the first day of issue city and then takes them (on that same day) to a post office in another city to have them stamped, franked or cancelled, or when stamps are affixed to envelopes that are simply dropped into a letterbox on the first day and receive that day’s normal postmark.

Postal authorities may hold a first day ceremony to generate publicity for the new issue, with postal officials revealing the stamp, and with connected persons in attendance, such as descendants of the person being honored by the stamp. The ceremony may also be held in a location that has a special connection with the stamp’s subject, such as the birthplace of a social movement, or at a stamp show.

There are stamp collectors who focus almost exclusively on the first day covers – or first day of issue stamps.  And because there are not quite so many of these covers or envelopes in circulation, these may be an excellent investment opportunity for those who are interested in this. 

I have personally invested in about 16 years of first day covers in Australia – where the local post office made sure they put away a first day of issue envelope for me – hoping that one day this will indeed represent a good investment.