Cancelled postage stamps

Cancellation of stamps, envelopes, and other postal products involves applying a special stamp (postal seal) to confirm payment for postal services.

Although canceled postage stamps can no longer be used to pay for sending letters, they can be particularly valuable to philatelists due to certain features: rare special cancellations or first-day stamps. For example, “First Day” (FDC) envelopes with the corresponding cancellation are of considerable interest to collectors, such as a set of first day envelopes with “Good evening, we are from Ukraine!” postage stamps.

Cancelled stamps and envelopes have cultural and historical significance because they record a specific moment in time and can tell their own story: which country the letter was sent from and on what date, on what occasion the stamp or envelope was cancelled, and how postal items were processed at different times.

What kinds of stamps are there?

Various types of postmarks are used to cancel postal items. One of them is a special postmark:

• with a transferable date — to commemorate cultural and historical events, anniversaries, city days, architectural monuments, etc.;

• with a fixed cancellation date — to mark anniversaries and memorable events, public holidays, festivals, exhibitions, etc.,

• to emphasize their uniqueness with the inscription “First Day” — on the day the postage stamp is put into circulation to mark the historic moment.

All of them are produced by Ukrposhta and are always unique, with their own design that echoes the theme of the postal issue. For example, the ornament on the “Crimean Tatar embroidery - code of the nation” stamp repeats the image on the art stamp. The postmark must indicate the date, index, city where the special cancellation took place, and its name.

First day cancellation: such a stamp is only available once

The most popular among philatelists are postal products with a special “First Day” stamp. Special cancellations on the occasion of the release of a new stamp, anniversary, holiday, or cultural event make the stamp unique, as there will never be another combination of “stamp + postmark” like it (the postmark is used for only one day and then discarded). The first copies sell out instantly. Over time, first day covers and stamps can become rare and increase significantly in value.

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Where to buy postage stamps?

At Ukrposhta, special cancellations of stamps are a real event, to which famous people involved in the theme of the postal issue, officials, journalists, philatelists, and anyone interested in philately are invited. The atmosphere of the event resembles the presentation of a new work of art, because each postage stamp is created with a special idea and has its own history from the very beginning.

The date and place of the postage stamp cancellation are determined according to the theme of the event to which the new stamp is dedicated. In Kyiv, the ceremony usually takes place at the Main Post Office (22 Khreshchatyk Street). Or in other symbolic places: museums, cultural centers, or even outdoors. Thematic locations for special stamp cancellations are also selected in regional centers of Ukraine.

During the ceremony, invited guests affix special postmarks to the stamps under the flashes of journalists' cameras. On the day a new postage stamp is put into circulation, anyone can cancel thematic postal products at this Ukrposhta branch.

For philatelists, a postmark is an integral attribute of philately, transforming an artistic stamp into a complete work of art. For them, cancelled stamps and envelopes are a must-have in their collection, and some even collect clean postmarks.

Another interesting collectible item with a first day postmark, presented on the Postmark website, is a card maximum, which includes a thematic stamp affixed to the front of an art card and a special “First Day” postmark. For example, the card maximum “Cities of Heroes. Kharkiv Region” is presented as a set of four cards.

Each cancelled stamp is a little story that preserves not only the stamp impression, but also the emotions and atmosphere of the special cancellation. That is why such items remain real gems in philatelic collections.