First Day Cover stamp catalogue

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A first-day envelope or first-day letter is an envelope with a postmark of the first day on which the stamp affixed to it was valid (date of issue). More

The first day cover (FDC) is an American invention. Such envelopes emerged in the United States of America around 1920. Special stamps are usually produced for the first day stamping, which focus on the subject of the stamp issue.
It is not necessary to use a specially developed one, but nowadays it is not easy to get a correct date stamp on the envelope. A first day envelope must have a date stamp that corresponds to the date of issue of the stamp or stamps.

In the past, it was sometimes referred to as a first-day letter. But from the 1960s onwards, the first day envelope was increasingly purchased through the stamp trade in order to obtain blank envelopes. And an envelope without an address is simply not a letter. In most countries, including the Netherlands, the generally accepted English term "First day cover" is used, abbreviated to FDC.

Unwritten envelopes generally have a higher value than a written envelope.

'Condition' meaning for FDCs (see forum ):
MNH : without address
stamped : with address

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