Scotts 237 FDC Or Commercially Used On First Day?

So I was sorting through the new collection I bought. Here is something I found interesting. It doesn't say First day of issue, but it is mailed or at least canceled on May 10th, 1937 which is according to Unitrade first day of issue. Would this be considered commercially used on this day? If so the FDC is listed at $5 catalogue any difference if its commercial?




Not really worried about its value though just found it neat. I'll be preparing some scans of the cool stuff I found. I don't think anything is huge value, but cool none the less.

Joe

I don't see any indications that it is a commercial use since I don't see business name, but it is postally used. It is also a first day of issue cover. It doesn't have to say First Day Cover on it and many early ones don't. The date is the qualifying factor. Good eye in spotting it.

Thanks Battlestamps! Yeah I was pretty excited to see the first day cancel on it. Besides First day of issue what are some very important dates to keep an eye on regardless of the stamp. Like I know one popular is to see a military post do a cancel on Dday. Can anyone give me some examples. I'm not really a cover person, but I do find these old ones pretty cool and love the history. Thats why I collect used.

I used to collect this stamp with a passion. I had about 100 different cacheted FDCs before I sold the collection a few years ago. It's probably not a commercial usage but philatelic. I have kept my website up (but not updated) on the special flag cancel

http://users.westelcom.com/gestus/c.../Corn37.html

Just for argument sake..
Would you really consider it a FDC..Are not FDC issued by Canada Post to mark the first day of issue...Now if it was issued May 10th, 1937 and some one went into the post office to mail a letter like normal, bought the stamp and put it on a letter to a relative or a friend and mailed it...It would be just a letter and not a first day cover..Any thoughts...Robert

NICE PIECE THOUGH..

I would consider it a first day cover. It was mailed on the day of issue from Ottawa. The stamp was placed on sale on many post offices in Canada on that date. Nothing about the cover screams philatelic, but on the other hand, nothing indicates it was a commercial mailing. Canada Post did not start producing their cacheted first day covers until April 1971. Prior to that time there were a number of private cachets available for first day covers but uncacheted covers were common. Jerry

Glenn awesome research you did on your site. I must say I ended up doing some research not even meaning too. See this is why I love used stamps with readable cancels. It cause me to waste hours of time reading

So out of curiosity what is the covers that are most desirable to find on first day of issue post marks? I don't collect covers, but when I buy lots I keep the ones I think are cool or have some neat history too.

Any good sites on Canadian cancelations. I have a few that deal with square CDS of the queens, but thats all I have in my bookmarks. Now that I've completed all my collection in used from the first cent issues till 1960. I had to have a cut off year for the time being. I've started a specialized Admiral collection since its my favorite stamp and now I want to collect CDS and SON with good centering on my used collection. It would be real neat to add into that mix rare post office location cancels and important dates as I'm building along the way.

This cover for sure is going to find a way into my album.

josephswager..I apologize...NICE FDC...

Thanks Wert.

Perhaps Canada Post issued FDCs are called OFDC for Official First Day Cover ?

BlackJag- I like that term. Makes sense since you just happen to mail something on its first day of Issue. To me it means more cause your not getting a favor cancel like most FDC are. Just my humble opinion

Battlestamps, I understand your statement about being commercial but I believe the 2 choices are commercial or Philatelic. I have never heard the term residential mail and commercial mail simply means that it wasn't philatelic or was not sent through the mail system for the purpose of creating a collectible item.

This is an interesting discussion. My first thought is that Battlestamps is correct. A FDC is something that is posted on the First Day of Issue. A commercial FDC, to me, is something that was used by a Business on the First Day of Issue. (Pretty rare, I would think.) Maybe Unitrade Editor will pipe in with his comments?

I do like the distinction of an Official First Day Cover ... interesting idea.

Yeah we could have three issue types. Commercial FDC, Official FDC and just FDC which means it was designated with the first day of issue and is clear it was for collecting purposes only. So we could have a CFDC ,OFDC and an FDC. I think this would open up more collecting options to the cover collectors. Very interesting idea to toy with.

These terms are nothing new. They have been around for years. There are true Commercial FDCs used by companies and sent to their customers to advertise their companies. Check out MEL #51 on my page ( http://www.glennestus.com/vermont/vtfdcc.html ) about the 1941 USA 3c Vermont statehood stamp. Official FDC are those issued by postal authorities. There are many such covers from around the world.

You need to check out the AFDCS.org site for me information.

stallzer: I understand. You've seen my cover descriptions before. I rarely use the word "commercial" as I feel it can be used on a few different levels. I use it sparely only to describe mail associated with named companies and even then I usually leave it out. I prefer to use "postally used" to indicate a cover that went from point a to point b via some sort of postal service. A postal service is a business operation thus anything passing through it was commercially handled regardless of intent of the sender. It could also be philatelic if the sender had the intent of creating a first day cover. A lot of addressed, non-cacheted FDCs requested by the collector full into this group.

There's also FDCs used by businesses on the first day of issue as a form of advertising. They are more common than you think Partime for at least within the United States. I've also seen them for France and Great Britain. Pharmaceutical companies made extensive use of first day covers for advertising. Other types of companies used them as well especially if the stamp topic was inline with the company's products or services. The company's intent of sending these FDC can be called commercial as it part of the company's advertising. They are also philatelic in creation as well. These types of "advertising FDCs" tend to be postally used too.

Then there's the mass produced FDCs with a cachet from a private maker or a postal authority. They are usually a mix of addressed, unaddressed, postally used and those that never passed through a mail system. They are philatelic in their creation, but all created to be sold as a commercial product for profit.

I've used "commercial" three different ways in the above examples and I don't think I misused them in anyway. You can see where the lines can be blurred and it can be a tricky word to use and be understood in different ways.