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.
