Each year the American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS) holds its annual convention, Americover, in a different city. Top first day cover exhibits compete for the coveted grand award. Recently the AFDCS and the American Philatelic Society (APS) concluded an agreement whereby the annual AFDCS convention will qualify in 5 years as a fully accredited national exhibition with its grand prize winner eligible to participate in the APS's yearly Champion of Champion competition.
Many people consider US first day covers as merely philatelic contrived souvenirs rather than true philatelic material. This is especially true with first day covers produced since the late 1920s. In the US, private cachet makers completely dominate the current first day cover market. Moreover, in the past few decades the United States Postal Service (USPS) cancels most first day covers at Kansas City, Missouri rather than at the local first day site and allows cancels to be applied weeks and even months after the first day.
If you exhibit your collection only for the joy of exhibiting and don't worry about capturing an award, a showing of the many cachets available for most new stamps can delight the viewer. However, if exhibiting on the national level interests you and you expect to gather awards above the initial entry level award, or the obligatory "participation certificate", you must "play" by the rules of the game. And the rules of the game have been established by the AFDCS and the APS.
The recently published "Manual of Philatelic Judging: How Exhibits are Judged, Fourth Edition" devotes a complete chapter to First Day Covers. Excerpting from the first two paragraphs of the chapter: "The judging criteria for first day cover exhibits are similar to those of any other philatelic exhibit....The exhibitor must demonstrate philatelic knowledge.....including information about the stamp, how it was printed,...., (and) perforation varieties......Usages also should be demonstrated, i.e., the rate for which the stamp was intended, and unusual usages that demonstrate philatelic knowledge. This information normally appears at the front of the exhibit." (page 23)
One of the ways that I have attempted to show my philatelic knowledge in a forthcoming exhibit on the 1941 3c Vermont Statehood Sesquicentennial Stamp (Scott 903) consists of pages showing first day covers used to other countries.
Illustration 1 shows an Espenshade cachet used to Chile. Espenshade produced a variety of color combinations. This particular cover has the first 4 lines of text plus the dates inside the wreath in blue. The graphic and the 6 lines of text at the bottom of the cachet are tannish brown. Other combinations in my collection show magenta & black and orange & green.
Unlike today, when many first day covers are canceled days and even months after the date of issuance, a cover needed to be at the city of issuance on or before the first day. The date on backstamp on the cover reads "7 ABR 41." According to"U.S. International Postal rates, 1872-1996" (Wawrukiewicz and Beecher) the rate of 3c is correct as announced in the Postal Bulletin #15834, effective April 1, 1932. This rate remained until November 1, 1953 (Wawrukiewicz, 17).
The same postage rate as above was in effect to the South American destination show in Illustration 2: Ecuador (Wawrukiewicz, 20). This House of Farnam cachet in green has a very faint Ecuadorian backstamp. Unfortunately, the date of arrival is blurred.
Illustration 3 shows an Aristocrat cachet design by Dan Lowry. The black cachet reflects the Vermont way of life that many today so fondly remember. Besides picturing Ethan Allen and his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, scenes of a mountain peak, sugaring, and quarrying are shown.
As you can see from the illustration the cover traveled from Montpelier to Tasmania, the island state in Australia. There is no backstamp on this cover so we don't know when it arrived. The pair of 3c stamps overpays the UPU surface letter rate between Australia and the United States by 1c. The 5c UPU rate to Australia was effective from Oct. 1, 1891 through November 1, 1953 (Wawrukiewicz, p.4).
We see another example to Australia in Illustration 4. Endorsed "VIA AMERICAN OR OTHER NEUTRAL BOAT", the Artcraft fdc also has a purple censor marking: "1/ NOT/ OPENED BY/ CENSOR/ 20." Once more the postage is overpaid by 1c. The markings also remind us that in March, 1941, war gripped much of Europe, Africa and the British Empire..
Illustration 5 is the prize in my collection. Although it has no cachet, it would certainly deserve a page by itself in any exhibit. Leaving Montpelier on March 4, 1941, the fdc traveled to Netherlands East Indies. In 1949 the East Indies gained independence from Netherlands and became the country of Indonesia. The cover has two censor markings on the front and one marking on the back as well as censoring tape resealing the left edge of the envelope after the censor had examined the contents. The censor date reads 5.5.41. It took almost 2 months to travel from wintry Vermont to the tropics. This cover also overpaid the UPU surface mail rate by 1c. The 5c UPU rate to the East Indies became effective July 1, 1875 and continued in force until November 1, 1953.
We must not forget our neighbor to the North: Canada. Illustration 6 shows a cachet with the Vermont State arms: sheaves of grain, a cow, mountains and a pine tree over the motto: "Freedom and Unity." The 3c stamp was sufficient for the postage to Canada. The 3c rate (per ounce) was established September 1, 1931 and remained in effect until August 1, 1958 when it increased to 4c. (Wawrukiewicz, p.320)
The Vermont Statehood Sesquicentennial issue has many possibilities. The last commemorative stamp issued by the United States before the US entered World War II, the stamp could still be used to many countries of the world. According to Wawrukiewicz and Beecher, there were not yet any of the mail suspended notices that became common later in 1941 as World War II expanded to include the United States and the Pacific area.
With the world embroiled in war and overseas communications chaotic, how many foreign destinations might exist of the Vermont Statehood first day covers. Do you have any such first day covers in your collection. Please send information including, cachet (if any), destination, arrival backstamp (if any), etc. to the author at: PO Box 451, Westport, NY 12993
"Manual of Philatelic Judging: How Exhibits are Judged, Fourth Edition, William H. Bauer, editor, APS, 1999
"U.S. International Postal Rates, 1872-1996", Anthony S. Wawrukiewicz and Henry W. Beecher, Cama Publishing Company, Portland, OR, 1996.
last updated June 24, 2000
