What to Collect? - Part 2
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Sometimes the kinds of stamps you collect are best saved as stamps, and sometimes it is
best to have the stamp on a cover. Stamps take up less space and are easier to handle, but
covers can contain really cool information about the stamp and how it was used. Commemoratives. You might never have seen this word before. It refers to stamps that honour or "commemorate" a person or an event. You will see plenty of them as examples in this web-site. In fact, it could be that most of the stamps you will save will be commemoratives. On the previous page, you saw a commemorative cover that honoured the first landing on the moon by astronauts of the USA. The stamp by itself is nice, but the whole cover is even better because it contains information about the event and tells us that this stamp was used on an envelope that was posted on the first day the stamp was available! There is also a cancellation that is dated when the landing took place! Hmmmmm ..... ?? Maybe you could collect covers like that! If you do, you can call them "First Day Covers", or FDC. This cover celebrates the crowning (or "coronation") of Queen Elizabeth. Well, so ok, but what is really cool about this particular cover? It was mailed in a town called "Coronation, Alberta" and that makes it even more special. Another example, from the United States, is a cover containing a stamp honouring "White Plains, New York", mailed in the town of White Plains. This does not say that it is a FDC, so you have to check the date on the postmark and find a catalogue that tells you the date the stamp was first issued. By now, you are getting the message that there are lots of different things you can save. Sometimes even the stamps have things written on them that means something. For example, at one time in Canada, and in some other countries as well, government offices used stamps that had special marks on them. In Canada, these stamps might have OHMS on them, or maybe the letter "G". The earlier ones used OHMS (On His Majesty's Service), or (On Her Majesty's Service), depending who was running the show in England, a King or a Queen!! The later ones used "G" for Government. Here is an example of 3 different uses of those letters, using the same stamp!! Well, maybe saving such things is not interesting for you yet. But keep them in mind for the future. What about your own country? Does it have special markings like that?
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