American First Day Cover Society

Members of the American First Day Cover Society have reelected four people to the organization's board of directors: Michael Lake, Cynthia Scott, Ralph Nafziger and Lorraine Bailey. There were five candidates running for the four three-year terms:

Michael Lake (199)
Cynthia Scott (193)
Ralph Nafziger (190)
Lorraine Bailey (152)
Walter Douglas George (141)

In addition, Chris Calle, Michael Moticia, Michael Rosenthal, and Don Trieschmann each received one write-in vote. Moticia is already serving on the board, after election in 2022. More than 230 ballots were cast, an increase from last year.

This was the first AFDCS election for George, a former supermarket industry executive, and a member of the Convention Planning Committee.

Lake, also of Massachusetts, is also AFDCS Education Committee chair. Scott, from Indiana, is currently Chair of the board and has previously served the society in many other posts. Nafziger lives in Oregon and is also executive vice president. Bailey, a former AFDCS Sales chair from Virginia, is currently on the Honors & Awards Committee and was granted an Honorary Life Membership in 2008 for her long service to the AFDCS.

Four seats on the AFDCS Board of Directors are elected each year for three-year terms, beginning Jan. 1. In addition to the 12 elected directors, the president, the editor of the official journal First Days, and the general counsel serve on the board ex officio, if not elected to the board in their own right. The board meets in person at least once a year and as needed via the internet.

AFDCS directors are not compensated for serving on the board nor reimbursed for their travel expenses.

For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057

Patrick Morgan of St. Charles, Mo., is the new chair of the Membership Department of the American First Day Cover Society and a member of its Executive Committee. He succeeds Foster E. Miller, III, who had held the position since 2008.

Morgan, with an MBA from Washington University, worked for IBM for 25 years, where he managed infrastructure architecture for services customers before retiring, and served for four years on the board of the St. Louis affiliate of the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization. He is presently in his first term on the AFDCS Board of Directors.

Pat collects FDCs topically — by subject — and is also a member of the American Topical Association, as well as the American Philatelic Society, Poster Stamp Collectors Club, and the Greater Mound City Stamp Club, of which he is Treasurer. He also collects postal cards with Fleetwood cachets and Artmaster airmail FDCs, and has written articles for First Days and Topical Time.

"Pat was highly recommend by everyone to whom I talked," said AFDCS president Lloyd A. de Vries. "He started looking at our membership programs even before he was confirmed by the Board."

Miller remains chair of the AFDCS Sales Department and represents the organization at many shows each year. He is also on the Board.

"We could not have made it through the past few years without Foster reconstructing and then maintaining our membership records," said de Vries. "Now, however, I want to lighten his load and also put more emphasis on recruitment and retention of members."

The AFDCS is the largest not-for-profit first day cover society in the world, with members in more than a dozen countries. It publishes an award-winning journal, First Days, six times a year, as well as handbooks, catalogues and You-Tube videos, and is a co-sponsor of the annual Great American Stamp Show. It holds an annual cachetmaking contest and two mail auctions a year, and encourages philatelic exhibiting and writing about FDCs.

Morgan can be reached directly at membership@afdcs.org. For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057

Debra "Deb" Gibson has been named executive secretary of the American First Day Cover Society, the largest not-for-profit organization for FDC collecting in the world.

The AFDCS Central Office is now in Somerset, Wis., 30 miles from Minneapolis. The mailing address is PO Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057. The office telephone number, however, remains (540) 940-1629 and the email address still is afdcs@afdcs.org.

Gibson spent more than 29 years in the U.S. Air Force, initially on assignment as a Romanian linguist for the National Security Agency. She spent most of her career in intelligence, with postings all over the country. Deb met her husband, gold-medal FDC exhibitor Rick Gibson, during a joint exercise in England.

She has volunteered for the American Red Cross and the Herwitz Breast Cancer Fund in Frederick, Md. She received a B.S. from St. Cloud University and a M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from American Military University.

Deb goes to many stamp collecting shows each year with Rick, even though she is not a collector. Many of the photographs from past AFDCS conventions were taken by her.

"I have enjoyed getting to know collectors," she says. "This brings me into the hobby just a little more!"

As executive secretary, Gibson also will be a member of the Executive Committee. She joins the AFDCS leadership at an exciting time. Not only is the AFDCS a co-sponsor of the annual Great American Stamp Show and publisher of the award-winning journal First Days, it has also just inaugurated a new member information system that is fully integrated with its new website. Most member access to the site's features are now automated.

A first day cover by Central New York resident Kevin Colton, who had never entered the American First Day Cover Society’s annual cachetmaking contest before, was chosen as the best design of 2023. His cachets for the Winter Woodland Animals (Sc. 5822-25) and, in particular, for the deer, jumped out at the judges, says contest chair Chris Calle.

Colton, who uses the trade name “KSC Cachets,” also won the Se-Tenant category with his set of four FDCs, as well as taking first place in Printed Artwork/Design, Multicolored (U.S. Flag, Sc. 5790 or 5791), and first, second and third place in Foreign Covers. In addition, his granddaughter Marrah Reichart, took first place in the Ages 10 and Under category with her cachet for the Red Fox stamp (Sc. 5742).

“I was totally blown away when I read the results,” Colton said. “I never expected to do so well. I love the creative process of designing covers that fit the topic of the stamps issued.”

The retired photographer had been creating KSC Cachets off and on since 1998, but an injury ten years ago kept him from working. His interest in first day covers was rekindled. Now he produces FDCs for almost all of U.S. and Canada issues, usually 20 to 25 each, as well as event covers and some add-ons (cachets on earlier uncacheted FDCs).

Colton says the Winter Woodland Animals designs were created in PhotoShop using a combination of stock images and artificial intelligence. “I have the idea of what I want and then begin to put all the pieces together,” he said. Each of the cachets in this set are composed of three to four different images, before he manipulated them into the final image design.

His cachets are printed on a Canon Pro 200 inkjet printer. “I had to change the entire configuration of the printer profile to be able to print on #6? envelopes,” he said. ”I only use dye-based ink to hold more vivid colors on the paper of the envelopes and the ink is more durable over time.”

He had been urged to enter the competition during a conversation with Calle. “My goal has never been to win contest but to create covers that I like and share them with others.”

Colton can be reached at kevin@kevincoltonphotography.com or 2043 Worden Rd, Seneca Falls, NY 13148-9722.

American First Day Cover Society president Lloyd A. de Vries has issued a Presidential Proclamation, designating Saturday, August 17, as National Cachetmakers Day. It coincides with the cachetmakers bourse at Great American Stamp Show 2024 in Hartford, Conn., and a special postmark will be available at the show.

"Every day is 'national something day' — usually several somethings —and apparently anyone can proclaim such a designation," explains de Vries. "I am the AFDCS president, so that makes this a Presidential Proclamation."

First day covers are like a birth certificate for a stamp, with the postmark for the first day that the stamp or postal stationery was available for sale. In many countries, the postal agency produces these "FDCs" but in the U.S., collectors are encouraged to do so themselves.

Cachets are the designs on the envelopes or cards used for first day covers. The cachets add to the theme or subject of the stamp or postal issue, either with clever artwork, interesting information or in some cases, neither. Cachets started appearing on envelopes as advertising around the time of the U.S. Civil War, and the first intended specifically for first day covers was created in 1923.

"We're having fun," says de Vries, a cachetmaker himself. "I'm sure not doing it for the money."

The AFDCS is the largest not-for-profit first day cover society in the world, with members in more than a dozen countries. It publishes an award-winning journal, First Days, six times a year, as well as handbooks, catalogues and You-Tube videos; holds fundraising auctions; is a co-sponsor of the annual Great American Stamp Show, conducts an annual cachetmaking contest; and encourages philatelic exhibiting and writing about FDCs.

For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 27, Greer, SC 29652-0027.

The American First Day Cover Society will give a lucky new member and whoever proposes that member each a $300 credit — the equivalent of 30,000 pennies — to welcome member #30,000.

The winners can spend their prizes on the AFDCS.org website, buying FDCs, catalogues and handbooks; joining, renewing or upgrading their memberships; paying for successful AFDCS auction bids; and more. The complete rules are on our website. (No, you cannot join, quit, and join again to try to hit #30,000! And your dog is not eligible.)

The AFDCS today does not have 30,000 members: It is closer to 1,200. Some numbers may have been skipped; some people may have received more than one number over the years; and, of course, some former members no longer collect.

Member #1 was Richard S. Bohn, who was one of the philatelic leaders who came up with the idea of a national society for first day cover collectors. Unfortunately, he passed away within a year after the founding in 1955. The earliest still active membership number is 10, Gerald Strauss, the first editor of First Days.

Silent Auction Donations Sought. Once again, we plan to have our always popular Hospitality Suite Silent Auction at Americover 2024. In order to have an auction, we need covers donated.  We are looking for items with a retail value of $10.00 or more.  Donations can be single items or bulk groups of covers.  Due to the time needed to prepare the covers and lots, please send your donations by June 30th, 2024. Please look at your duplicate covers and send your donation to:
 
Walter Douglas George
67 Pomeroy Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
 
If you have any questions, you can email Doug at WallyStamps2022@gmail.com
Or call him at 413-727-5856 and leave him a message.

Mitchell "Mick" Zais, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, is now the chair of the Publications subcommittee of the American First Day Cover Society. Publications is a part of the Education Department of the AFDCS, which is chaired by Michael Lake.
 
Zais was also briefly Acting Secretary of Education in 2021 and has served as South Carolina Superintendent of Education and president of Newbury College. Before that, the West Point graduate had reached the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army.
 
He has often told the story of how he was able to skip a required geography course at the U.S. Military Academy because of the knowledge he had gained from stamp collecting. Today, he specializes in the first day covers of the Army stamps of the Army-Navy Series of 1936-37 (Sc. 785-789).
 
Mick was elected to the AFDCS Board of Directors, beginning in January 2023. He served as president of the American Philatelic Society from 2016 to 2018, resigning to avoid a conflict of interest with his federal appointment.
 
"I look forward to working with our team at AFDCS to bring useful and important publications to our members," said Zais. "Most exciting is the recent permission acquired by the Society to re-print the Mellone first day cover catalogs."
 
The AFDCS has published books, handbooks, and catalogues on everything from the basics of FDC collecting to making cachets, from FDCs of the 1909 commemorative issues to those of the 1988 Cats issue. A complete list can be found in the AFDCS Marketplace. The Education Department of the AFDCS also has a YouTube Channel and produces videos on various facets of FDC collecting.

Popular Artist Will Be at AFDCS Booth To Sign Covers, Meet Collectors
Professional artist Chris Calle again will design the official show cachets for Great American Stamp Show 2024. He also will be at the American First Day Cover Society booth during the show to autograph covers and stamps with his designs and chat with collectors.

During his 40+ years as an illustrator his artwork focused on historical subjects and the theme of space exploration produced in paint and pencil for publications, advertising, coins and FDCs. Chris has designed more than 35 postage stamps for the United States and hundreds more for countries as diverse as Sweden and the Marshall Islands, as well as designs for the United Nations.

Chris’s US postage stamp design work includes the two stamps celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the first Moon Landing jointly designed with his father Paul Calle who designed the iconic #C76 First Man on the Moon stamp in 1969. Perhaps Chris’s most well-known solo artwork is the $2.40 Priority Mail stamp design of 1989 (Sc. 2419), which depicts Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting the American flag on the moon. 

For more than a decade Chris has designed the show cachets for the major U.S. summer stamp collecting shows as well as many regional stamp shows throughout the country. Among other stamp and cover design awards, Chris' first day cover cachets have won the top prize in the annual AFDCS contest several times.
 
The AFDCS is a co-sponsor of the Great American Stamp Show, which includes the Americover first day cover exhibition and announcement of the results of its annual cachetmaking contest. GASS this year is being held in Hartford, Conn., August 15-18, 2024. Admission is free.

A new edition of the American First Day Cover Society’s AFDCS Directory of Current Cachetmakers is now available. The January 2024 version can be downloaded for free via this link. Printed versions are available for $5.00 postpaid from AFDCS Sales; order here.

Compiled by John White of North Carolina, the directory seeks to list every individual or company currently producing cacheted first day covers, whether or not they are members of the AFDCS. There is no charge for listings; cachetmakers who wish to be included in a future edition should fill out the online form here.  

New editions of the directory are published when there are a number of additions or changes, so the next version may be next month or next year. The link to the latest edition — whatever it is — is on the home page. The January 2024 edition adds 11 cachetmakers, removes 14 and updates six.