American First Day Cover Society

Details are still being finalized, but here is the design for the American First Day Cover Society's Court Of Honor #46. The AFDCS will be using this cachet by Arianna Calle for all of 2026's holiday issues. 

Calle is the only winner of a “junior” category (age 17 and under) in the AFDCS Cachetmakers Contest to win in an adult category, which she has now done each of the past six years.
 
Watch the Court of Honor page on the AFDCS.org website for details on what are sure to be popular FDCs, and to see the past issues that are still available.

There is now some information about GASS 2027 on the APS website:

• hotel (although not yet a reservation code),
• applications for dealers,
• cachetmakers, and
• exhibitors, and
• requests for meeting/seminar times.

The show is August 19-22, and includes the AFDCS' Americover 2027 convention and exhibition. 

You should get your Election Newsletter in the regular postal mail, even if you normally only get the digital edition of First Days. These are not distributed electronically.

There are five candidates for four three-year terms: Eric Wile, Michael Moticha, Foster Miller, Kerry Heffner and Trevor Bills. Mike, Foster and Eric are incumbents. Jeff Hayward is not running for re-election. The terms begin January 1.

The deadline for returning your ballot is November 1. Please follow the instructions on the election newsletter.

We have updated our membership application to include information about Americover 2027. If you would like a .pdf copy with your name and membership number in the sponsor fields, please send that information via email to president@afdcs.org

PDF files are easy to print on your home computer.

Many of our top recruiters send a copy of the AFDCS application with their eBay, APS StampStore and other orders. 

Great American Stamp Show (GASS) 2028 — which includes Americover 2028 — will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 24-27, 2028.The show is co-hosted by the American Philatelic Society, the American Topical Association, and the American First Day Cover Society, with the United States Postal Service serving as the official sponsor.

GASS/Americover 2027 will be in Albuquerque, N.M., August 19-22, 2027.

Michael Lake and James Tatum Jr. are the 2026 recipients of the American First Day Cover Society's Glenn C. Michel Award for Service to the society. 

Mike (right) is currently Chair of the Education Department of the AFDCS, recognized as an educational non-profit by the IRS. Among his accomplishments during his tenure are establishing the AFDCS YouTube Channel and coordinating the video presentations on it, and helping the AFDCS make available the Mellone cachet catalogues. In addition, he writes a regular column in First Days, the AFDCS journal, on ArtCraft cachets, a major influence on the FDC specialty. He is an elected member of the Board of Directors.

Jim (left) recently stepped down as Chair of the Honors & Awards Committee and for many years ensured that as many participants as possible at Americover, the annual convention and exhibition of the AFDCS, signed the envelopes which are placed in the AFDCS Archive. He also has served on the Board.

Most members do not know that as television-film editor Jim edited national television commercials and worked with Rankin/Bass Productions on animated movies such as “The Hobbit” and “The Last Unicorn” plus the “ThunderCats” and “SilversHawks” animated series. Mike was a college sports marketing and production executive at ESPN before opening a Signarama franchise, producing a different kind of communications media.

Steven M. Ripley of Florida has been elected chair of the Board of Directors of the American First Day Cover Society. He succeeds Cynthia Scott of Indiana, who held the position for a number of years. In an interesting development, she replaces Ripley as chair of the Honors and Awards Committee.

Ripley has held many roles in the society, but is best known as the innovative chair of its Americover show and convention. He received the AFDCS Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor, in 2005. In addition to being a Life Member of the AFDCS, he is also a life member of the American Philatelic Society, American Topical Association, and other philatelic organizations. His specialties include the Walt Disney issue of 1968.

Outside philately, he is a supervisor of transportation and parking for major events such as the Super Bowl, NASCAR auto races, the Kentucky Derby and concerts. He also provides management services for non-profit and start-up businesses.

The Chair of the Board is elected by the members of the Board. Neither the chair nor other Directors are compensated in any way for serving on the board, although they may receive reimbursement for expenses not related to serving on the board or attending meetings.

The 1948 Wisconsin Statehood Centennial Issue: Making, Celebrating and Using the Stamp, by John A, Paré and Ralph H. Nafziger, is the 2025 winner of the American First Day Cover Society’s annual Philip H. Ward, Jr., Memorial Award for Excellence in First Day Cover Literature.

The 154-page book, published by The Collectors Club of Chicago, begins with a short history of Wisconsin, followed by the development of the stamp (Scott 957) from an idea to the finished product. It then traces the activities surrounding the first day in Madison and six cachetmakers whose first or only cachets were for this issue. It also includes a list of all known cachets for this issue and price ranges of their values, biographies of the cachetmakers and color illustrations of most of them.

Nafziger is a retired research chemist/research supervisor at the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Mines. He lives in Oregon and is Executive Vice President of the AFDCS. Paré is a retired U.S. Navy captain and high school vice principal who lives in Wisconsin.

The book, which won a Vermeil award at the Chicagopex 2025 literature competition, is available from the Collectors Club of Chicago, 1029 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL 60610 for $45 (hard copy) or $15 (eBook). Visit www.collectorsclubchicago.org The book is also available on Amazon.

Mark Thompson's book Women of the Black Heritage Series: from the Fields of Slavery to the Halls of Congress was the 2025 runner-up for the Ward Award. It is available from Amazon.

Philip Henry Ward, Jr., began servicing first day covers in 1909. An electrical engineer by trade, he wrote on new issues for The American Philatelist, Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News and The Weekly Philatelic Gazette in the early 20th century.

Self-nominations are now open for the Board of Directors of the American First Day Cover Society, the largest not-for-profit FDC organization in the world. Each year, the membership of the AFDCS elects four people to serve on its board for three-year terms.

Those running for the board must be members in good standing and are expected to submit a statement of no more than 300 words and a photo. There is no other "qualifying process" for nominations: No 10-member petitions, minimum tenure in the AFDCS, nor the ability to recite cachet catalogue numbers from memory. Reasonable proficiency with email is expected.

Once elected, Directors are expected to attend the one in-person meeting a year (held the night before the convention, which in 2027 will be held at Great American Stamp Show in Albuquerque, NM) and ad hoc online meetings, participate in email discussions and vote electronically on matters that come before the board. The ballot and the candidates' statements are mailed to members in the fall. The terms begin on January 1.

Bobby Liao of California is chairing the AFDCS 2026 Nominating Committee, aided by Steve Ripley of Florida and Chris Calle of Connecticut. Those wish to run, or who would like more information, should contact Bobby at bottlingcachet@yahoo.com. 

The AFDCS Board of Directors consists of 12 elected members, plus three ex-officio members: the president, editor, and general counsel. (The Society's complete bylaws are available at www.afdcs.org/bylaws). Directors are not compensated in any way for serving on the board, although they may receive reimbursement for expenses not related to serving on the board or attending meetings.

If you're unable to attend, you don't have to miss out on all the fun!

• You can attend the Board meeting via Zoom using https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89063380865?pwd=abele8Xw1TwCZs6UFbQmnZD0suAoEG.1 (If a passcode is required, it's 523655.)
• You can attend the Membership Meeting via Zoom using https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81752575684?pwd=au1V2zlvX3JSRKJRfWjXZKXuzKAlpe.1  (If a passcode is required, it's 492567.)
• The Cachet Contest results should go live on our afdcs.org site shortly after 10 am Saturday.
• You can bid in the Hospitality Suite Silent Auction even if you're not enjoying our hospitality. Details a