Great Britain First Day Covers
The day on which a postage stamp is issued for use by the general public is referred to as the 'First Day of Issue'. Because there are less copies of a stamp issue that have the date of the first day of issue, then these become collectable because of the date. Of course there may be other factors which influence the price.
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First day covers are released when a new range of stamps are issued. They are preprinted envelopes with decorative pictures and generally contain all the stamps of the set of stamps being issued.
They are very collectable if they are dated with the date that the stamps were issued.
The first day cover may contain additional promotional material on the subject that is pictured on the stamp. Bear in mind that First Day covers which have a handwritten address are generally worth less than a typed address or an address on a label.
Note that the stamps are franked , the collector may still need to buy the mint stamps for the new issue.
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