First day covers

But do they actually have recent Scott catalogs for FDCs???

 

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Here is a scan of a page from a recent Brookman catalog. It gives the Scott number of the stamp, a brief description, and date of issue. The prices I would call "high retail". On eBay, new Brookmans are about $30, older ones sometimes under $10. Scott catalogs go for a bit more.

 

Wow - I haven't heard the words "First Day Covers" for what seems like decades. They used to be a pretty big deal and I think I still have a small pile of them, but with the stamp crash and letters more or less disappearing from people's lives, the interest seems to have dried up. That Project Mercury one with John Glenn is pretty awesome.

Though coins have a ways to go, the same thing could happen if all money goes electronic. People may just lose interest in something that they no longer see day to day. People who appreciate history will probably still care, but likely few others. Hopefully we won't see a thread in the future for Silver Eagles that says something like "people just melt 'em for the metal. Why buy them otherwise?" People living in the 1950s and 1960s would probably be shocked if they had know that, decades later, dealers wouldn't even be able to give away First Day Covers. I'm even slightly, though only slightly, surprised.

 

Thank you @ewomack . Out of the three flight day covers from the cape, that one is my favorite too, followed by the cover of the Mercury capsule, followed by the one with the Atlas rocket and John Glenn in black and white.



See, those covers make sense to me because they were cancelled at Cape Canaveral on the day Glenn took off on his flight. These covers were at the place where the event started, so they have a cool factor and nice historical connection to the event... even if not worth much of anything.

When they start to get silly is when you see stuff like this....



One is celebrating his visit to the UN and has UN stamps. And the other celebrates his return party at his hometown in Ohio the next day. That's crossing the line into plain silliness and smells of a money grab by the greedy post office and the UN. I mean, what's next, a cover celebrating John Glenn's first bowel movement when he got back to Earth?

You'll see the same for other flights. For example, first day covers from Cape Canaveral or Houston on the day Apollo 8 launched or got to the moon make perfect sense due to the two places' connection to the mission and the historical nature of the events. But then you'll get a dozen silly covers celebrating a bunch of mundane and small aspects of the mission....so many that it's easy to just get bored and tune everything out. So I try to curate the collection to get around that. Apollo 8 Cape Canaveral cover, ok! Apollo 8 cover celebrating the town where astronaut Jim Lovell went to middle school....no thanks!

 

Thanks for showing Meow. Meow will looking into buying the latest publication of the Brookman book, just for fun. Meow thinks FDC are easier to look at and keep, rather than just stamps. Stamp collections are overwhelming and a big mess. But Meow does want to buy the latest issues that have subjects that Meow likes.

 

Meow did not know stamp collecting went out of fashion. Is that why Meow sees huge collections of them selling for a few dollars?

 

Looks like they got greedy and flooded, and subsequently ruined the hobby eventually. Beanie Babies anyone?

 

Wow, so that's why its so hard to find guide for these. Nobody wants one to begin with! Sigh.....Unlike FDCs coins are still going strong, as reference books are very easy to find and are reasonably priced. Books like the red book, blue book, cherry pickers guide, etc. They make them every year, and there are many places to buy them at. Meow feels sad that a once proud collectable, has had such a downturn in popularity.

 

Meow has a question about these listings. How can you tell which covers are better than others? Meow has read there are several makers of the cacheted ones? And what about the blank one with just the stamp and cancellation? Are they even more worthless?

 

@MeowtheKitty Yes, it's sad that it's dead, but on the other hand that means you can put together a fun collection of them for very little money. You don't have to go broke in the process.

Pick a subject you like....for example, cats felines in general (lion's, Panthers, tigers, etc), and have fun. Yeah, you'll never make any money out of that collection (ie. will never get your money back), but on the other hand you don't have to put much money at all into it in the first place, so you'll lose very little in the process of putting together a collection that brings you lots of joy. The fun you'll have will far outweigh the small quantities of money you'll lose creating that collection.

 

Robert L Miller is correct: Stuff before 1920 can be really expensive. most items "created after" are more like souvenirs produced with common everyday stamp issues on "pretty" 3rd party cachets. Yes, A first day of early stamps, Zeppelins, for example, have nice/great value, but mass produced USPS items have little to no value. Go into any local stamp shop and view the FDC material they can't give away, for example. Try to sell the material listed in the Brookman catalog to a dealer or even on Ebay at the retail prices list and good luck. Here's an example: My LIRR train history and stamps cover material. Of, perhaps, great historical interest, but the value on the material is nil... None of the items have rare stamps, OR of first days of 19th century material (the Holy Grail, as no one cared and saved stamped envelopes)...http://www.trainsarefun.com/trainsandstamps/trainsandstamps.htm

 

But coins are still in good demand right? Meow hopes...…………… Are they?

 

Wow, cool. So those Scott numbers, are given to items in order, so the oldest known one is Scott #1? too bad they don't make books for these anymore. It would be really neat to look at a modern up to date one.

 

I have a first day cover you might like @MeowtheKitty . Blend the best of both worlds PLUS a gold (plated) replica of the stamp

 

Wow! They made a stamp about coin collecting???? That is amazing.

 

I have a sheet of these somewhere, 1978. ( I think)




Jim

 

Certain coins sell regardless but not stamps and not first day covers.

 

Well that's good. Meow has way more coins that stamps.

 

Yeah, these things were somewhat popular during the 1990s. I think my dad used to purchase them. I'll have to ask him someday if he still has any.

 

The is a member of my local club who offers first day covers with the coins regularly in our club auction. Some of them are quite attractive, but they never bring more than $5 or $6. Most of the time he opens them at $1, and they might make $3 or so.