1st Day Cover Stamps Value: What First Day Covers Sell For

Most first day covers are worth little, usually a dollar or less at retail and less than that when you sell. A first day cover (FDC) is an envelope or card whose stamp was postmarked on the stamp's first day of issue, usually with a printed design called a cachet on the left.

The American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS) gives three rules of thumb, each with the warning "although not always":

• Most uncacheted covers (no design, just the stamp and postmark) are of minimal value.
• Most addressed covers from the 1960s to date are of low value.
• Most common issues since the 1950s are of low value.

The same society says the value goes up with a high-denomination stamp, with good cachet art (bad art lowers it) and with subjects that collectors specifically want. Its example of a subject in demand is the 1987 Certified Public Accountants stamp.

Dealer lot prices are the most concrete guide to ordinary covers, because they show what a retailer charges for covers by the hundred. Mystic Stamp Company listed these in September 2026:

• 1950s, 75 cacheted covers (ArtCraft, Cachet Craft, Fleetwood and others): $74.95, about $1 per cover
• 1970s, 100 covers: $49.95, about 50 cents per cover
• 2000s, 100 covers: $69.95
• 2010s, 100 covers: $89.95
• Colorano silk cachets, 20 different: $29.95

Those are selling prices. A buyer pays less: the AFDCS says dealers buy collections for much less than replacement or retail value. Some dealers do not buy modern covers at all. Dennis R. Abel's stamp business, for example, lists modern first day covers from 1935 to the present and Fleetwood promotional products among the things it does not buy (drabel.com, September 2026).

So a box of several hundred 1960s and 1970s covers inherited from a relative is usually worth tens of dollars as a lot, not hundreds, unless a sort turns up one of the exceptions below.

• High-denomination stamps. A dollar-value stamp on a cover is worth more than a first-class stamp of the same year (AFDCS).
• Good cachet art. Good art in the cachet adds value; poor art takes it away (AFDCS).
• Subjects in demand. Collectors of a topic pay for covers on it; the AFDCS names the 1987 Certified Public Accountants stamp.
• A postmark that fits the subject. Wikipedia notes that a cover postmarked at a place connected to the stamp's subject is often worth ten times the same cover with an unrelated postmark.
• Errors on a first day cover. An error stamp on a cover dated the first day can prove the error existed from the start, which is what made the Hammarskjold cover below worth $3,500.
• Early covers. The first cacheted first day covers were made by George W. Linn for the Harding memorial stamp on September 1, 1923 (Wikipedia).

The best-documented 1960s case shows how narrow the exceptions are. The Dag Hammarskjold stamp was issued on October 23, 1962, and some sheets were printed with the yellow background upside down. To stop the error becoming a jackpot, Postmaster General J. Edward Day ordered the inverted version reprinted on purpose: 40,270,000 inverts were produced, against 121,440,000 normal stamps (Wikipedia).

As a result, a Hammarskjold invert is worth about 50 cents today. The exception is a first day cover carrying an invert that can be shown to come from the original printing rather than the reprint; one sold for $3,500 in 2005 (Wikipedia).

The practical lesson for a 1960s box: covers of ordinary stamps from that decade are sold in bulk. The valuable ones are errors, unusual postmarks and covers with artwork that collectors seek, and each needs to be checked individually.

This order follows the AFDCS value factors and takes an evening for a few hundred covers:

• Put uncacheted and addressed covers from the 1960s onward in one pile; as a group they are the lowest value.
• Pull any cover with a dollar-denomination stamp or several stamps adding up to a high value.
• Pull covers dated before 1950, and especially from the 1920s and 1930s.
• Pull hand-drawn, hand-painted or artist-signed cachets.
• Check the postmark city against the stamp subject; a fitting town is a plus.
• Compare each stamp with a normal copy for missing colours, inverts or shifted printing. Our guide to stamp errors and varieties shows what to look for.

The AFDCS separates two kinds of appraisal. A replacement value is what it would cost to buy the covers again from dealers, which is the figure for insurance. A selling appraisal is what a dealer would actually pay. The gap between them is large for first day covers.

The society itself does not buy covers, does not publish a catalogue that values them and does not appraise collections. For ways to get a collection valued or sold, see our page on stamp appraisal.

• General stamp dealers. Mystic Stamp Company says it buys all kinds of stamps and takes details, including photos of the collection, through an online form (info.mysticstamp.com, September 2026). Ask whether a box of modern covers is wanted before you send it.
• Specialist cover retailers. First Day Covers Online, selling covers since 1995, stocks ArtCraft, Artmaster, Fleetwood, Colorano Silk, House of Farnam and Collins Hand Painted covers, among others. Its listings show which cachet makers are kept in stock; ask such shops directly whether they buy.
• Collectors of a topic, through clubs or the AFDCS, when a cover fits their subject.

Not every dealer buys them: some turn down modern covers (drabel.com). Ask before you ship anything.

No. The stamp on a first day cover has been postmarked, so it cannot pay postage again, and soaking it off destroys what little value the cover has. The cover is worth what collectors pay for the whole envelope. Our page on used stamps explains which postmarked stamps do sell.

To identify the stamp on a cover, photograph it straight on in daylight. PhilLens reads the design and issue, and there are free scans every day; the cover's value then depends on the cachet, the postmark and the checks above.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI, and every price, date and number was checked against the sources listed below. Dealer prices are retail asking prices from September 2026, not what a dealer would pay you. The $3,500 Hammarskjold result is a 2005 sale reported by Wikipedia.