Two Ordinary Covers, German 1911 And Franch 1925

Well, look at that. Considering Rob Roy paid about 1/5 of a cent per stamp, and got a free cover, I'd say he did okay.

The back is empty (the package arrived today).


I tend to ignore the separation between price and shipping fee. Some dealers at ebay offer free shipping, which is naturally not true, so for me, the cost is the total sum that I paid. Having said that, it's infuriating, both for me and for the seller, that for every dollar I pay the seller, USPS gets 10.

Last, grammatical question: Should I say "a FDC" or "an FDC"? We do call it sometimes "Ef Di Ci", don't we?

A first day cover. An FDC.

The sound determines whether it is 'a' or 'an.'

Are there levels of FDC's? Does every stamp that is used on the first day of issue, turn the cover to FDC?
I saw FDC's with specially dedicated cancellations, and covers decorated to commemorate the stamp. Are all these equally FDC's?

If it's cancelled on the first day of issue, it's a first day cover. Covers evolved - first, a cancellation on the day of issue, then a cancellation on a cover with a particular design on that day, then a special cancellation provided by the post office. In Britain, for example, special post office envelopes and cancellations didn't appear until the 1960s, but companies and individuals had been creating first day of issue covers long before that.

There are first day covers especially prepared for cancellation on the first day of issue. There is a wide variety of such covers that may range from 'official' to 'privately produced' covers. Some may even come signed.
These are purely philatelic.

There, also, are covers that bear a stamp or set of stamps used and cancelled on the first day of issue. These, normally, are philatelic as well. Often, the value of the stamps surpasses the required rate. You may also find them registered.

And there are covers that carry a stamp issued on the day the cover was posted and received a cancellation for the first day of issue.

The former are often mass-produced or intentionally limited editions often directed at subscribers or customers of a certain stamp dealer. The official ones, usually, have no value and the stamps are considered worth less than ordinary used stamps. The privately produced can be expensive, but often the price is based on a 'catalogue' price that the producer itself has come up with.

The stamps and sets on a cover with first day of issue cancellations often predate the production of illustrated first day covers. They are interesting, but remain philatelic.

The last type are interesting for classic stamps. Since they were not intended as philatelic item or cannot be identified as such, they tend to command a premium.

FDC, primarily, is the philatelic one. As 'first day cover' suggests, the cover was printed, or - before illustrated covers were used - prepared to be used on the first day of issue. Ordinary covers appropriately franked covers with first-day-of-issue cancels are exactly that. Those covers were not intended for use on the first day. calling them first day covers conveys the message of when they were used, but does not do them justice as it was not the cover that was intended for the first day of issue.

Thank you very much for all the time invested and the enlightening facts I've learned in this thread.