What a first day cover is
An envelope carrying a new stamp, postmarked on the first day it was valid.
From the mid 1960s the Post Office sold special envelopes and postmarks for every issue, and The Postal Museum holds the issue records that date them. Collectors bought them by the thousand. That is the problem. Almost every cover from that point on was made to be kept, was kept, and exists in quantity.
Covers made before that date are different. They were put together by individual collectors who worked out for themselves when a stamp was coming and posted an envelope. Far fewer were made, and far fewer survive.
What the common ones are worth
A box of Royal Mail covers from 1970 to the present sells at auction for roughly the cost of the stamps as postage, less a discount. Add a small amount for the better-known issues.
A single cover from that period is worth £1 to £5 to a dealer. Albums sell as one lot. Sentimental value is real; market value is not.
Decade by decade
| Period | What a typical cover makes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1920 | £30 to £200 and up | Made by individuals, rarely, and for a reason |
| 1920s and 1930s | £20 to £150 | The 1924 Wembley and 1929 Postal Union Congress issues lead |
| 1937 to 1952 | £15 to £80 | Coronation and Stamp Centenary covers are the ones to find |
| 1953 to 1962 | £8 to £50 | The Coronation, and the last years before the official service |
| 1963 to 1969 | £3 to £25 | The official service starts. Volumes rise sharply |
| 1970s | £1 to £6 | Produced in hundreds of thousands. Silk cachets are the exception |
| 1980s to today | £1 to £4, or postage value | The commonest collectable in Britain |
These are illustrative ranges for sound covers with clear postmarks. The price records show recent hammer prices.
The ones worth checking
| Cover | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Anything before 1953 | Made in small numbers by collectors, not sold by the Post Office |
| 1840 to 1841 Penny Black and 2d Blue covers | The first stamps on their original envelopes, priced by date and condition |
| 1929 Postal Union Congress £1 | The high value on cover is a four-figure item |
| Wartime and early airmail covers | Postal history collectors buy for the route and the postmark |
| Covers with rare postmarks or cachets | A special handstamp or a scarce sorting office |
| Signed covers | Signed by someone connected to the issue, with a guarantee |
| Covers with errors on the stamps | Missing colours and inverted watermarks are worth more on cover |
| Benham silk and gold covers, 1970s and 1980s | The one modern exception, and only for the scarce numbers |
The 1840 covers belong with the stamp rather than the envelope. The Penny Black guide explains what the margins, plate and cancel do to the price.
What the better covers make
| Cover | Illustrative hammer |
|---|---|
| Royal Mail cover, 1970s to 2000s, single | £1 to £5 |
| 1953 Coronation cover with a special handstamp | £15 to £50 |
| 1937 Coronation or 1940 Stamp Centenary cover | £20 to £80 |
| Pre-1953 cover with a scarce cachet or postmark | £50 to £300 |
| 1929 PUC £1 on first day cover | £1,500 to £4,000 |
| Penny Black on cover, May 1840 | £500 to £3,000; a 6 May 1840 first day cover is a five-figure rarity |
These are illustrative ranges for sound examples.
Signed covers
A signature adds value in proportion to two things: who signed, and whether the signature can be proved.
A cover signed by someone connected with the subject of the issue is worth most. A 1969 Concorde cover signed by a test pilot is a collected object. The same cover signed by an unrelated celebrity is worth the cover.
Unproved signatures are treated as unsigned. Forged signatures on covers are common, because the covers themselves cost nothing to buy. A certificate or a letter of provenance is what separates the two.
Postal history is the other half of the box
A cover with an interesting journey is collected whether or not it is a first day of issue. This is where the money in most old boxes actually sits.
Look for covers that crossed a war zone, went by early airmail, carried a censor mark, came from a ship, or were held up and re-routed. Look for postmarks from offices that closed. Look for anything addressed to or from somewhere unexpected.
Postal history collectors buy the route and the markings. The stamp on the front may be the least interesting thing about the envelope.
How to check a box quickly
Sort by decade. Everything from 1970 onwards goes in one pile and is valued by weight or by album. Anything earlier goes in a second pile.
Photograph the second pile front and back, one cover at a time, flat and in daylight. The back matters: transit and arrival marks are on the reverse, and they are what a postal history buyer reads first.
The collection guide explains where to send the photographs.
How to sell first day covers
A box of modern covers sells as one lot, either to a dealer or in a general saleroom. The figure is set by the number of albums rather than by any cover in them.
Pre-1953 covers, and anything with a scarce postmark, are lotted individually at a stamp auction where postal history collectors bid.
Below about £100 in total a dealer’s offer is the better route. The auction charges take most of a small sum, and the wait runs to months. For a holding large enough that the charges are worth paying, where to sell a stamp collection sets out how each buyer arrives at its figure.
