FDC

I was wondering which would be of more value, a FDC uncancelled or one non-canceled? Does having the cancel from the State it was issued in make it more valuable or is that necessary?

Donna

Is an uncanceled FDC really a FDC?

Isn't the cancel what FDC is all about?

Many Official Canadian FDCs bear a cancel from places across the country.

I'm not sure if the place of cancelation makes a difference to anybody other than the collector.

I think I'm missing something here. If it's uncancelled, it can't be a first day cover, can it?

Duh... Donna, Excuse the obvious, but how can it be FDC if it's uncanceled. Isn't that the point? Date / time stamp/ etc. or are you meaning "unaddressed"? I think FDC's without addresses can be more valuable than those which are addressed.

Yes, it seems that I did mean unaddressed.

I like addressed ones better (preferably addressed by hand), as they generally show collector involvement in the philatelic process.

I agree, Donna,
an address lends legitimacy for me.

I find it rather interesting how things change on such topics through the years.

Regardless of those who claim that most FDC's are of little value, I remember as a young stamp collector going through the effort of sending away for cacheted envelopes, affixing my return address and sending a small check or money order to the Postmaster at the first day city, requesting a stamp and first day cancel. As a kid, it was a lot of fun to go through the effort and see these come back to me in the mail.

I was later told by those who knew FDC's better than I that I should start using peelable return address labels so that I could remove my name/address from the cover when it was returned, as it would be a more "desirable" piece (note I didn't say "valuable").

It was around that time that the whole FDC industry changed. The price of the cacheted envelopes skyrocketed. The price of the stamps, too. Then the post office changed policy and wanted collectors to buy the stamps at their local post offices, but my local post office often didn't have the ones I needed, even though I could send them in for cancellation up to 30 days later, which, in my opinion, defeated the whole purpose of a "first day cancel" anyway. Then, to add insult to injury, the post office came up with those stupid postal markings and/or secondary cancellations that they affixed to all mail, without regard to it being a FDC, which often ruined the piece in transit.

I then started evaluating the cost. Back when postage was fifteen cents, I would mail a request to the cachet company for the unserviced cacheted envelopes (they were about about 30 cents apiece, if I recall)...then I would purchase the stamp and send it to the Postmaster of the FD city for cancel. So the cost was:

15c to request cacheted envelope
30c to buy cacheted envelope
15c to affix a stamp to the FDC
15c to send the prepared FDC to the FD city for cancellation

That wound up costing me 75 cents for a FDC that was worth about a dime to a buyer (if you could ever find one who was interested) ... and the price kept escalating from there as postage rates increased. That's when I lost interest in modern first day covers. The "fun" was taken out of the entire effort. Now I'd rather look at the "classics" that came out long before all of these new policies were implemented.

Thanks all for the info. The reason I asked was twofold. I was thinking of making a historical gift for my daughter for Christmas and her B-day which is 11 days after Christmas. I wanted to find what the stamp was that came out closest for her birth month. I am expecting that whatever came out for 1985 is going to be after her birth month, but I might luck out and find that something was issued in Jan.85. I was thinking of including the FDC for it and then, maybe including the Christmas stamp and FDC that came out for the same Christmas of her birth year. I was just trying to make a decision on whether for the stamp and FDC's to use the MNH stamp/unaddressed FDC or the canceled stamp/addressed FDC.

All of that I am planning in placing in a frame with glass. I have a few pictures with frames that I have picked up over the years and just never got around to hanging on the walls. I'd rather recycle them then throw them out. All in all, a rather different spin on those novelty newspapers or birthday cards that you can get that has info on what happened the year you were born.

I'm finding that I'm becoming interested in FDC's myself and if it was really worth my effort to start a collection.

Donna

Donna, why not try to get a cover mailed on her birthdate. I did recently for myself. If you go to the Jim Forte site, you can search for a particular date cover. I am not sure if he has covers as recent as 1985, but it might be worth a try. On second thought, 1985 is not that recent.

Addendum, I just went to the site and there is no cover from Jan 5, 1985.

Donna - why not try to find a stamp issued right on the birthday, and get the post office poster that announced it. Contact the ASPPP.org - they might be able to help you.

I like the idea.
Wish I had more time or were more organized.
To promote what I thought of doing with some of extras... Make a smaller shadow box montage featuring stamps of subject matter interest to the person (child). My kids were swimmers / divers. There was Choral and instrumental music One really liked shoes / the other fish in High school/ and stamps of the foreign countries visited/ career paths / Love stamps... etc

Donna,
Many people stopped collecting FDC because of their low value. If you are looking at collecting as an investment, stay away from them . If you are collecting for pleasure then collect whatever you like. FDC after 1960 are easy to get and are dirt cheap, if you decide to collect them now is a great time to start.

rohumpy-I checked out Jim's site too. That was an interesting site I have saved it to my bookmarks. Thank you for doing the Jan 5, 1985 search. Having a daughter that will be 26 in Jan. makes me feel soooo old. What's worse is I have son that will be 25 in March.

Moonbird-I'm not quite sure what you mean, but it sounds good..lol Could you explain this a little more?

bfranton-Believe me, I'm not that organized. If I was I would have had this done months ago. Your idea, like my idea, is something that can be worked on at anytime.

Russ-If I had money to invest in anything it would be something like works of art on a grander scale. FDC's would be something to collect, as you said, just for pleasure and I think just to see if I can find the ones that had to do with my family's birth years as the incentive. The oldest would be my hubby's for 1956. A nice way to gather another little moment in history.