First day cover (stamps)

[rebcs]

I am thinking of starting a collection of FDC stamps, can anyone tell me the size of card or envelope they are issued on, or if there are various sizes so that I know the type of album needed for storage. I thought I had read somewhere that the Royal Mail had changed the size of issue sometime in the recent past. Thanks for any information given.

[spudqueen]

You can buy albums for First Day Covers, either from the website
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/shop?catId=9300091&pageId=shp_prdlist&category=cat35760136 /> or from certain Post Offices (usually Crown ones I think). There's some new stamps out in a week or two - Royal Navy Uniforms I think.

If you need to know the exact size let me know and I will try to remember to measure some First Day Covers when I'm next in work (I work part-time in a Post Office), but you should be alright buying the official album.

[spudqueen]

Just re-read your question, and I can tell you that they are all a standard size.

[denis567]

Spudqueen, they are not all a standard size, the official Post Office ones do tend to be a standard size, but there are loads of privately produced FDC'c which come in a variety of sizes.
By the way rebcs, if you are thinking of starting a collection purely for pleasure, then fine, but if you are thinking of starting a collection as an investment, then forget about it.

[rebcs]

Thanks Spudqueen & Denis567 for the info on FDC sizes I think I should do a bit more research. I am doing it purely as a hobby

[sammmo]

as investments go FDCs are rubbish you can buy them cheaper on ebay than from the PO I bought a box full of them 7 yrs ago for £20 must be about 300 FDCs thats the way to buy them for investment.. they are in my loft gathering dust.. stamp collecting can be very interesting the best way to do it is have a word with the local post office and get them to save new stamps each month for you and put them in an album that way you only pay the face value and when or if you sell them that is what you can ask for them..

[denis567]

That is not true sammmo, even after 20 - 30 years you are lucky to get face value for them. I know from past experience, I built up a collection in tne 70's and 80's as a nestegg for when I retired. When the time came to dispose of my collection, nobody was interested. Dealers only offered a fraction of what they were worth and ebay was a dead loss. I ended up using most of them myself, as postage. At least that way I got face value.