American First Day Cover Society

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

Here are some last-minute notes:

• Admission is free.
• There's a Hospitality Suite each night, Thursday through Saturday.
• The Board of Directors meeting is tonight, Thursday, at 8 pm, and open to the public. It's in the Delaware Room.
• Please send your photos of the show to Tony Bard for inclusion in First Days. Use editor.firstdays@gmail.com
• Our annual membership meeting is at 9 am in the Delaware Room, followed at 9:30 am by the Cachet Contest results.
• Are you going to the Sunday night pay-on-your-own post-show dinner? It's at G&M Crabhouse. Let us know so we can give the restaurant a headcount.
• The location for the by-invitation-only Sunday morning Charter and Life Member Breakfast has been changed from the Delaware Room to the Washington/Virginia Rooms, which are next door. The time is still 8:30 am (correct).

The planning and preparation are nearly done, but we need people to help out during the show, which is being held August 7-9 at the BWI Airport Marriott in Maryland. Specific "volunteer opportunities" are:

• AFDCS Promotion/FDC Information (2-hour shifts at the table in the bourse area)
• AFDCS Sales (2-hour shifts at the table in the bourse area)
• Affixing Stamps to Covers (one person for each of the 3 days)
• Hospitality Suite (one person to open, one to close each night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, with some overlap)
• Silent Auction Closeout (2 needed, Saturday night only, 10 pm to midnight)

The Hospitality Suite opens each evening at 8 pm and closes at midnight. Besides keeping an eye on things, the volunteer will put out additional snacks and supplies as needed. The AFDCS table will be in the bourse area. The Hospitality Suite is just across the hall: No long hikes as at GASS! No need to use GPS as at some other shows!

If you are available to help — just two hours! — please email coordinator Ralph Nafziger now at nafzigerralphh@gmail.com and tell him when and for what you are available.

Now you can participate — and win — in the Americover Silent Auction even if you can't make the 2026 show, which is being held August 7-9 at the BWI Marriott (at Baltimore-Washington Airport) in conjunction with BALPEX 2026. All 105 lots can be seen online by downloading this file and submitting a bid via email.

The lots include FDCs from the 1930s to the present, and cachets ranging from typed to hand-painted. The cachetmakers represented include Dave Bennett, Kendal Bevil, Judith Fogt and many other familiar names. And the minimum bids for all of them is just $5.

Collectors "playing at home" have until Saturday August 8 at 10 p.m. Eastern time to email their bids to dalux2041@gmail.com, putting "silent auction bids" in the subject line. Multiple bids may be listed in a single email, but all bids must include the bidder's name, address, telephone number, and, of course, the lot numbers and amounts of the bids.

The lots will be on display in the American First Day Cover Society Hospitality Suite at Americover/BALPEX, where additional bids likely will be made. The emailed bids will form the basis for the opening bids, and those in the Hospitality Suite will know what the highest at-home bids are, so if you really, really want an item, bid generously.

The Silent Auction operates differently than a traditional auction: The lots are on display, and bidders at Americover write their bids on public lists — silently. Bids are not knocked down to an increment above the next-highest bid, so the winning bids are the actual maximum amounts collectors are willing to pay. Bids must be in even-dollar amounts. (Fractional bids make no cents!)

This is the first year that at-home bidders can see scans of the lots, by downloading the PDF file.

All the lots were donated to the AFDCS and all proceeds will go to help cover Americover expenses.

The contract can be downloaded by clicking here. Tables are $75 each and will be set up in the foyer outside the dealer bourse. American First Day Cover Society or American Philatelic Society membership is required. Space is limited and subject to prior sale. You'll find more details in the contract.

Cachetmakers Bourse dealers are only allowed to sell material they have made themselves.

This will be the top selling opportunity for FDC producers this year, so don't miss out. Sign up today!

New Flag Envelope to Debut at Americover/BALPEX 2026

The Diagonal U.S. Flag Stamped Envelope will have its first-day launch at Americover 2026/BALPEX 2026 on August 7 in Linthicum Heights, MD. The combined show is being held at the BWI Marriott at Baltimore Washington Airport.

The tentative-but-likely design is shown below. 

Not only will there be two World Series of Philately exhibitions at the combined show August 7-9, near Baltimore-Washington Airport, there will also be a Young Exhibitors Competition, a classification of two- to three-frame exhibits, an "Informal Class" of exhibits with minimal rules and a single-page display of "One of My Favorites."

The deadline for entering exhibits is June 30, 2026. The prospectus can be found on the BALPEX website at https://balpex.org/exhibits.html 

"Favorites" is described as single pages of a single item or set, "a place to single out a gem from your collection. This is just for fun, although there will be a people’s choice award. There is no charge to enter.

The Informal Class is described as an opportunity "where new exhibitors can show material and receive suggestions and encouragement in an informal setting." It is intended for everything from future WSP exhibits to material that doesn't fit the current system to displays by those who have "philosophical differences" with the established exhibiting rules. The fee is one-third that of the regular exhibiting classes, $6 per frame.

The Baltimore Philatelic Society first began holding the stamp collecting shows that became BALPEX in the 1930s. This year's show is at the BWI Marriott Hotel in Linthicum Heights, MD, at the airport, just a few miles south of Baltimore. A special show rate for hotel rooms is available and there is a free shuttle from the airport terminal to the Marriott.

Americover, the convention, exhibition and celebration of the American First Day Cover Society, is normally held in conjunction with Great American Stamp Show. However, with no GASS scheduled this year because of Boston 2026, the AFDCS looked for alternatives.

AFDCS Sponsors 8 Postmarks for Boston 2026:
One Pictorial for Each Day

In addition to the daily "theme" postmarks provided by the U.S. Postal Service and the various first-day cancels, the American First Day Cover Society has announced eight AFDCS Station postmarks that will be available to collectors at the Boston 2026 World Expo show.

AFDCS Membership chair Trevor Bills led the effort for the postmarks. The special days of the show, to be commemorated both by the USPS and the AFDCS cancels, are:

• May 23 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Day
• May 24 Favorite Stamp Day
• May 25 Stamp Collectors Day
• May 26 Letter Writing Day
• May 27 International Peace Day
• May 28 Sports Day
• May 29 Honoring Heroes Day
• May 30 Youth and Family Day

Each postmark should be available at the USPS Cancellations Booth at the show starting on its date and then for the rest of the show. Each design measures 1.50- by 2.50 inches.

The AFDCS is also producing and selling the Official Souvenir Show Covers, one for each day of the show, with cachets (designs) by professional philatelic artist Chris Calle. These will be available at the AFDCS Booth, Tables 18-20, in the Americas Pavilion.

After the email blast about all the wonderful FDC opportunities at Boston 2026, the question arose, "How can I get the Official Souvenir Show Covers and AFDCS cachets if I'm not at the show?"

Visit the AFDCS Marketplace's Newly-Added Covers page, where you can order unserviced cachets and serviced covers. You'll also find FDCs there for other recent issues.

You might say we've got you covered.

The serviced covers won't be shipped until after June 1.

Payment on our site is made through the PayPal system, even if you are paying with a non-PayPal debit or credit card. However, if you want to use a payment card more directly, send an email to sales@afdcs.org and request an invoice. Or send a check to AFDCS Sales, Box 44, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0044.

We also still have shifts open for volunteers at the AFDCS' three tables at Boston 2026. Please contact sales@afdcs.org to sign up.

The American First Day Cover Society is providing plenty of reasons for FDC collectors to attend. By the numbers:

• 1 AFDCS regional meeting
• 6 U.S. first-days and a "dedication"
• first-day cachets for the six new U.S. issues
• 8 foreign first-days by five countries
• 4 AFDCS-presented seminars
• 4 meetings of AFDCS chapters
• 8 official souvenir show covers
• 1 cachet artist with an auto(graph) pen,
• 1 FDC-related book signing
• 8 gold-medal entries from seven countries in the Experimental Class exhibition, and
• countless FDC and event covers on our three tables in the Americas Pavilion.

 The Regional Meeting is on Sunday, May 24, at 2 p.m. in Room 153C on Level 1.

 The seminars are

• Chris Calle, "Design of Stamps and Show Covers," Monday, 2 p.m., Room 156C
• Foster Miller, "7-1-71 First Day Covers," Wednesday, 2 pm, Room 158
• USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services, Thursday, 2 p.m., Room 158
• Gary Loew, "Coxsackie to Vienna via West Africa FDC," Friday, 3 p.m., Room 158
• 
  

 The Chapters with events are

• Ebony Society of Philatelic Events And Reflections (ESPER) (Saturday, 2 p.m., Room 157C
• American Ceremony Program Society (Tuesday, 2 p.m., Room 158)
• Maximum Card Study Unit (MACSU) (Thursday, 11 a.m., Room 157B)
• Gay & Lesbian History on Stamps (Friday, 1 p.m., Room 157C)

 Of course, there's much more than just FDCs at this show — merit badge workshops, other organization's meetings, talks on everything from technology to mail service 250 years ago. More events are being added to the schedule all the time. For more information, check the Boston 2026 app or go to the Boston2026.org website.