1968 First Day Issue Cover - Walt Disney - Americana

First Day of Issue featuring Walt Disney, Showman of the World.

A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or overseas office. Covers that are postmarked at sea or their next port of call will carry a Paquebot postmark. There will usually be a first day of issue postmark, frequently a pictorial cancellation, indicating the city and date where the item was first issued, and "first day of issue" is often used to refer to this postmark. Depending on the policy of the nation issuing the stamp, official first day postmarks may sometimes be applied to covers weeks or months after the date indicated.

Postal authorities may hold a first day ceremony to generate publicity for the new issue, with postal officials revealing the stamp, and with connected persons in attendance, such as descendants of the person being honored by the stamp. The ceremony may also be held in a location that has a special connection with the stamp's subject, such as the birthplace of a social movement, or at a stamp show.

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. Several printing companies began producing such envelopes and often hired free lance illustrators to design their cachets such as Charles R. Chickering who in his earlier years designed postage stamps for the U.S. Post Office. Cachets, which should not be confused with postmarks, are basically rubber stamps. Postmarks can only be applied by official Post Offices whereas anyone can design a cachet 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 won’t 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.

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