Philatelic covers

Most modern first day covers are a type of philatelic cover— in other words, they are envelopes prepared with a stamp(s), addressed and sent through the mail delivery system with the intent of creating a collectible item. Information about philatelic covers is available online in catalogs and collector websites.^[8]

Event covers

Event covers, also known as commemorative covers, are a closely related kind of philatelic covers to FDCs. Instead of marking the issuance of a stamp, these covers commemorate events in history or current events: an inauguration, a birthday, or a big or small a milestone of any kind. The cachet on these covers typically explains the event or anniversary being celebrated, and ideally the stamp or stamps affixed relate to the event. Cancels are obtained either from a relevant location (e.g., Cape Canaveral, Anytown) or, in the case of the United States, from the Postal Service's Cancellation Services unit in Kansas City.^[9]

Other types

Computer vended postage stamps issued by Neopost had first-day-of-issue ceremonies sponsored by the company, not by an official stamp-issuing entity.^[10] Personalised postage stamps of different designs are sometimes also given first-day-of-issue ceremonies and cancellations by the private designer. The stamps issued by private local posts can also have first days of issue, as can artistamps.

Postmark

The postmark is one of the most important features of a cover. Stamps are cancelled by a postmark, which shows they have been used and cannot be re-used to send a letter. Circular Date Stamps (CDS) are the 'bread-and-butter' postmarks used on everyday mail by post offices in many countries. A CDS postmark is very straightforward and only features the town’s name and the date. There is no picture. If one wanted to use a CDS postmark from a town relevant to the stamp's issue, one would have to go to the town’s local post office to get it. On a cover, the postmark should touch each stamp and link them to the envelope.

Postmarks came to the foreground in the early 1960s, when collectors started to demand more interesting cancellations on their first day covers. For the U.K.'s Red Cross issue in 1963, a special Florence Nightingale cover was posted at her birthplace, West Wellow. The Botanical Conference issue of 1964 featured primroses on the stamps, so one clever cover dealer posted his covers at Primrose Valley. This kind of relevant postmark made a cover worth often ten times more than the same cover with a standard postmark issued by the Philatelic Bureau at Edinburgh (a place with no connection to the stamps).^[11] In the U.S., the United States Postal Service chooses a city, or several, as "official" first day cities. These often have a special connection to the stamp issue being released, and these postmarks are the only ones that have the wording "First Day of Issue."^[12]

Special handstamps

With postmarks becoming more and more important to the covers, pictorial postmarks became very popular. Pictorial postmarks are also known in the U.K. as Special Handstamps/Postmarks. In 1924, the first commemorative set of stamps for the British Empire Exhibition had both special postmarks and a special slogan, but it was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that dealers and organisations really caught on that you could sponsor/design a connected postmark and it would make an ordinary cover something special.^{[citation needed]} These days anyone can sponsor a postmark. They need to design the postmark, get it approved by Royal Mail and then pay a fee. The postmark then becomes the property of Royal Mail and anyone is allowed to use it on their covers. This means that to a certain extent, most cover producers “borrow” other people’s postmarks. However, to be an “official” cover, a postmark has to be on the cover produced by the organisation that sponsored the postmark in the first place.^[13]

Cachet

As the collecting of first day covers became more popular they began to appear on prepared envelopes, often with an illustration (commonly referred to by collectors as a cachet) that corresponded with the theme of the stamp.^[14] Several printing companies began producing such envelopes and often hired freelance illustrators to design their cachets such as Charles R. Chickering who in his earlier years designed postage stamps for the U.S. Post Office.^[15] Cachets should not be confused with postmarks, which are typically rubber stamps. Postmarks can only be applied by official Post Offices, whereas anyone can design a cachet using any artistic medium and put it on their cover. A cachet makes a cover unique and helps tell the story of the cover. It can say whether the cover was carried (for example, covers were carried on the very last flight of the Concorde), who the signer was or information about the postmark. Royal Mail no longer counts pre-decimal stamps as valid and will not postmark them, a cachet can therefore be used to cancel a pre-decimal stamp on a cover. It provides a link between that stamp and the envelope. They can also be used to cancel Cinderella stamps.^[16]