Canadian FDC, Are They Worthless?

Part of the history of how Canadians treat their mail perhaps?
Perhaps more interesting because of the extra writing?

Puzzler:

That's a thought.

I'll put them up on ebay as "unique - rare"

Moonbird I feel your pain, in my case it was the mailman who frequently marked up the FDC.
Now I don't blame the mailman since the markings are for his route and why would he give a dam about a FDC, it's only a piece of mail he has to deliver.



Even though I complained and sent many back and received Canada Post generic covers, sometimes I just gave up.
A few times I wrote the philatelic section asking why they can't be returned under cover and the answer was because any mail could be used in a legal matter therefor it had to go through the regular mail stream.What a bunch of crap.
It was Ok though when they started sending their own FDC under cover in 1971.

Lithograving - coincidentally you illustrate with one of my all time favourtite stamps. And it is also my favourite cover. I had that stamp cancelled at the Canada Pavilion at EXPO 67 using a post card maxi of the stamp.

edit - tried to upload a scan but couldn't get it under 90kb

Moonbird - have you tried reducing the image size?

Did 5 scans - none of them would go below 90kb. will try again.

Bumping this thread. It's a 2010 thread. Anyone know if the situation has changed for Canadian FDCs since then? I have about 100 I'd like to sell. SCV is $118. Just curious if these have any *real* value and, if not, what to do with them?

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Well said puzzler..I am not a cover person as such, but I concentrate on pre 1940 covers if I do...

The market hasn't changed much in the past few years. High quantities produced to a limited market equals oversupply ... so the prices stay low. In fact, a quick ebay search for "Canada FDC" responds with over 17,000 listings for FDCs for sale!

It not only affects Canadian FDCs but also those from the US -- and even worse -- UN covers.

The only redeeming factor is hunting for special and/or unique cachets. Oftentimes, the cachet sells the cover more than the stamp or the postmark.

Don't get me wrong: Collecting FDCs can be quite interesting, just don't let the idea set in that you can re-sell them for a profit, as it is not likely to happen.

Recently, I picked up a large batch of Canadian FDC from a few auction sites. Have not seen them yet since I sent them to my Canadian address but I have always liked them. They don't seem to be worth anything but are nice to look at.

Were they ever worth something? I remember a Robert A. Heinlein novel "The Number of the Beast" written back in the 70's and one of the characters said he made money only on the best stamps, like plate blocks and FDC. Were FDC deemed as more valuable back then?

I began self-servicing unadorned FDCs thru the US Post Office Department in the 1960s.

I quickly gave-up, for several reasons:

- The proliferation of cachet makers. Did I have to collect all of them to be complete?

- The proliferation of new issues, especially the ten-stamp US flag set of 1968. Was I supposed to get a set of ten from each cachet maker? And how to mount/store a twenty stamp plate block? And could this one set of stamps be worth all that money?

- The MNHOG craze, because it radically de-valued all of our existing self-serviced self-addressed FDCs, as they were not pristine. On the other hand, the pristine unaddressed FDCs never really traveled thru the mail, except as cargo. For me, FDCs were at the center of a debate that left both sides devalued. And left me discouraged.

All that having been said, the utter collapse of the 'mainstream' FDC market leaves me shocked; I understand why people are dumping them, and I understand why no one seems to be buying them, but I shudder at the time & money that has evaporated into thin air.

One ray of sunshine in all that gloom might be the 'artisanal' (hand-drawn) FDCs, many of which are clever & lovely. Completionism doesn't seem to be as big a driver, and there is some hope that the value added by the artist might actually persist.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I really like mainstream FDCs more than the hand drawn ones. I don't know why except maybe they feel "official" and I like that? I didn't even know hand-done FDCs were a thing until very recently. I guess it's a shame that FDCs are falling by the wayside, but it does mean that poor collectors like me can pick them up for next to nothing. I have some really nice ones that I'm quite fond of.

I also like addressed ones better than unaddressed ones. I feel like the addressed ones feel more "real". :) I like to think that such an interesting object actually travelled through the mail to somebody's mailbox.

FDC collecting used to be a lot more popular a generation or two ago. Back in the 50's, for example, the USPS and Canada would only issue a handful of new stamps a year and even into the 60's it was maybe a dozen or two most years, That wasn't enough to keep collectors' appetites sated, so people collected plate blocks, sheets, FDC's and the like. Today a full set of FDCs will put you out a lot of money and eat up a lot of storage space. New issues are released with enough frequency that collectors don't need to resort to collecting every format to stay active in their hobby. As a result you have far fewer people collecting FDCs at the same time that a ton of them hit the market as those collectors pass away or dispose of their collections.

I would collect OFDC's if I had the money and space.
They give the official raison d'être for each issue.
But each year is $60-85 each.
And how would you display those nice wooden jewellery boxes - take up a whole wall?
(like the problem collecting press sheets!)

I like the idea that artists and people who care about the stamp's sunject can create their own cachet or design on the FDC envelope and around the stamp area even.

It adds to the passion of the stamp, the idea, the colour and history and reasons for it being.

Those are collectible and keepers.

The official FDC's are sometimes lacking this passion of purpose and commitment but at other times really make up for it by being heart catching.

Good art keeps it's value, but an over abundance of the same 'great' design is boring.