First Day Cover Vs. Souvenir Sheet - What's More Collectible?

Hi all,

I'm new to stamps so please bear with me. I've seen some souvenir sheets and first day covers (these are the correct terminologies, right?), and I'm wondering if I were to purchase one or the other, which one is "better" in terms of the work, effort, substance, quality, etc. that goes into it. I acknowledge that they may not all be the same for various issues across various countries, so using US FDCs and souvenir sheets as an example, is one more "substantial" in quality over the other? I'm sure that a lot of this is subjective but I'm sure that value will be reflected in the price as far as what most collectors tend towards.

To me, I see the FDCs as having more material, but the stamps are cancelled. Whereas, the souvenir sheets are not cancelled and could (have) actually be used. Also, what's inside those FDC envelopes? I have one and I think something is on the inside, but I don't want to open it for fear of losing value.

Thanks in advance!

Hi iPen, and welcome to the forum. Your first question is a bit vague in that you seem to compare apples and oranges. I may not understand quite what you mean.
An FDC is a First Day cover, a cover with a stamp attached and canceled on the first day of issue.
A souvenir sheet is a ( usually ) small sheet of stamps that may be canceled on the first day, but not necessarily so.
If the FDC seems to have something in it, it may be a piece of cardboard used as a stiffener. This keeps the cover better in the mailstream.

Peter

Both are equally collectible. Perhaps a blank stiffener in the FDC to keep from bending. Leave it. Is the FDC addressed or unaddressed?

The FDC is not addressed. I was hoping that there was something neat inside the FDC.

Right now, I'm leaning towards uncancelled souvenir sheets.

I'm trying to figure out the merits between souvenir sheets and FDCs before I buy. Thanks.

I also see that many FDCs are "cachets" produced by private companies, as opposed to many others produced by the USPS. I take it that these FDCs made by private companies are authorized by the USPS, though I don't see why it would need to be authorized to begin with... for example, I'm looking at the 1943-1944 WWII Overrun Countries FDCs and there are at least several different designs for a given country. I want to stick to the "official" USPS one - is the USPS version more collectible than the private company ones (in general)?

Are cancelled stamps on FDC equally as collectible as a mint stamp?

Some FDCs have printed cards inside. Few FDCs are worth anything much anyway, and I would tend to open them to see what's inside, just out of curiosity. Their value is usually more a matter of their perceived worth to the owner, rather than a financial consideration.

Which to choose to collect is entirely up to the individual. Whichever you prefer - go for that. The point about the stamps being used is a fair one. Some collectors don't consider mint stamps to be as valid as those which were actually put into service. Then again, others don't think FDC stamps have been properly used anyway. It's all down to personal feelings about these things.

By the way, I personally would prefer souvenir sheets because I like mint more than used.

What if there's a souvenir sheet on an FDC? It's used, but is it more-or-less the best of both worlds?

Sure open it. Sounds like you need to know. No value anyway of any consequence. To be a FDC will require a cancellation. That is what it is all about.

Best of both world's for the select few that want a cancelled souvenir sheet on a FDC. I would be more interested in a properly used S.S. on cover that went through the mail and not a FDC. I collected Souvenir Sheets when they were sold as part of a country collection, singles,blocks & FDC like Switzerland & Peoples Republic of China. Just to give an idea of the many ways to collect.

I agree with some of the others that it is your choice, after all you are probably trying to please yourself with the end result of your collecting efforts.

I have been on a personal mission since the early '70's to obtain as many souvenir sheets as I can find and afford. I like to find a mint copy a CTO copy and if possible a postal used copy. Then there are at times slightly different versions of the same sheets, they are all possible additions to my collection.

I also collect the singles, blocks, strips, full sheets etc, But I like them to have the margins still attached. It all boils down to collecting what you like.

By the way good luck and happy hunting!

If you are asking whether one or the other has a better "investment" potential then the answer is neither. With very few exceptions of the oldest material, first day covers and souvenir sheets do not have much value today and the outlook of most people is that they will not have much value anytime in the future. There were just too many produced and there are not the numbers of collectors to create a situation of not enough supply for the limited demand. Of course if you buy either of them from dealers they will be charging you premiums, but then if you wish to resell them back to those dealers they would give you very little if anything for them because they can buy them in great quantities wholesale at very low costs. For example, most souvenir sheets are worth less than the face value of the stamps in them. If you are going to collect either FDCs or souvenir sheets you should do so because of the fun in it and not expect to get back even a fraction of what you spend on them if you ever decide to sell them in the future.

As for official US Post Office vs. privately produced FDCs - both are equally "official". The cool thing about the privately produced ones is that typically there will be many different makers of them and so collecting can be fun to try to find as many of those makers as possible. And some of the privately produced ones can be much nicer than the Post Office made ones. Also, the Post Office has only relatively recently been in the business of making and selling first day covers so you would not be able to get Post Office produced FDCs on older stamps.

Another good point about FDCs is that you yourself can create your own as new stamps are issued. It takes a bit of effort, but you can have your own covers stamped on the first day of issue and you can be as creative as you like in making your own cachets. You can be as simple or as elaborate as you like. You can even make your own hand painted cachets if you have any artistic talent, or if not you can make some black and white cachets and color them with a bit of watercolor paints. The sky is the limit and your own cacheted FDCs would be one of a kind to as many as you choose to make.

Souvenir sheets are also fun to collect, but as I mentioned there is rarely any value to them if you ever decide to sell them other than for a few old ones. Cancelled or mint doesn't really matter other than what you personally prefer. Cancelled ones fix the date and show they came within the area of an actual post office which is of interest to some people, while other people like mint ones that may have never been near an actual post office but you can see every detail on them clearly without a cancellation.

One advantage of FDCs is that there are books and collector groups for them and so you would have the company of some like-minded individuals and catalogs to show you what is out there. I am not sure I have heard of similar resources for souvenir sheet collectors.

All of this does not matter much other than to tell you that you should collect whatever makes you happy. And there is nothing to say you cannot collect both areas. Most stamp and postal history collectors do collect multiple areas of interest because it increases the fun factor and makes it easier to find things to collect since there is a broader range to look for.

FDC are always "cancelled", since without the FDC marking they are almost always just regular use mail. Obviously, the value in FDC is the cancellation that says "First Day of Issue" with the appropriate date stamp.

A FDC can still be a FDC without the official FDC cancellation, but it takes a lot of detective work to find covers that were issued and have a date mark cancelled on the first day of issue. Official FDC issues started to be common around the 1930s.

Generally, before FDC were officially issued "first day of issue" is termed "earliest known use" (EKU) of a stamp which may or may not be the same as the first day of issue.

You might find this site helpful: http://www.afdcs.org/learnaboutfdcs.html

Ringo said:



I think "few" has to have some qualifications here. Considering the the total number of FDC's in existence, it is undoubtedly correct. But the same could be said about stamps. Yet there are very many stamps that are worth something, often quite a bit. And if you were to limit the stamps under consideration to the time frame in which FDC's have existed -- say from the early 1920's -- the a comparison might even be more apt about the number of stamps/FDC's "worth anything" in relation to the total number in existence.

All of which is simply to say that to the knowledgeable and discerning, there are FDC's that worth more than than the dollar or so that most FDC's are worth. Unusual postmarks, signatures, plate blocks, particular cachet producers, and other features can often turn what would be normal FDC into something worth 5-10 times as much. And there are certain FDC's that because of the circumstances of their issue, that are particularly valuable. My area of collecting is US airmails, and have several FDC's for a modern airmail stamp -- C72c -- which have catalogue values in excess of $100 (but would probably bring only about half that if sold at auction). An earlier airmail FDC, C16 with a plateblock, required nearly $500 at auction when I acquired it 3 or so years ago. I have a lot of FDC's that could easily bring $15-$50 at auction. So it is not like there are not more than a few FDC's that are worth anything, if you know what to look for.

Unless you are wealthy, don't think of stamp collecting as investing. Pick a focus that interests you, and then learn all you can about what is available. You'll then be able to distinguish the more desirable items in whatever area you focus on from the more common ones. While I am an avid FDC collector, it is not for everyone, and it helps that my focus is narrowed to US airmail and aviation topical stamps and their FDC's.

Basil

Here is an example of some of the fun you can have. The tulip photo is an original picture I took and I had it cancelled. 25 years later usps issued another tulip stamp so I sent it through again with another cancellation.