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Do you have some older envelopes with the stamps still on them? Stamps were intended to pay the cost of carrying the mail and, quite often, they are worth much when they are still affixed to the envelope or package wrapper on which they originated. The older the piece of mail, the more important it is that the stamp(s) remain on that piece. In the stamp collecting hobby, envelopes are called "covers" and such usages of stamps on these covers are important to millions of collectors. There are many different kinds of covers. Some of the most popular cover collecting specialties are described here.

 

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First Day Covers
Very popular collecting specialty. The stamp is affixed to a cover with an attractive "cachet" design and is cancelled on the first day the stamp is issued to the public. Cancel says "First Day Of Issue". Prices: inexpensive.
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Event Covers
Stamp affixed on cover with special cachet and commemorative cancel that honors a particular event or activity.
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Paquebot Covers
Covers mailed on a ship at sea and postmarked thereon. These covers were then dropped off at the next port of call and mailed from there with the postage stamps of the country from which the ship originated. Prices from $5 to $1,000.
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Wartime Mail
Military personnel serving in our wars could generally send regular mail without paying postage. There are all types of wartime mail, from package wrappers to prisoner-of-war mails. Above: a Marine sent this 1942 cover back to his family and marked it "Free" (upper right), which was his right. Prices from $5 into the hundreds.
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Unusual Foreign Usages
This cover was franked with a stamp overprinted by the Japanese when they occupied the Philippine Islands during World War II. The stamp and cover observed the first anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Prices from $5 to thousands.
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Space Exploration
A very popular specialty is the collecting of covers that observe events in the space program. Above: a 1982 cover honoring the launching of the space shuttle Challenger.
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Stampless Covers
Covers from all countries (above: French usage in 1853) that do not bear postage stamps. Most of these were used before postage stamps were issued in 1840, but many exist well into the stamp-issuing period. Prices: $5 to over $100,000.
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World War II Patriotic Covers
Many specially-prepared covers (like the one shown here honoring the fall of Corregidor in 1942) served as major propaganda media during the war. A very popular collecting specialty with prices from $5 to about $250.
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Modern Postal History
Covers bearing stamps issued in the period from about 1930 to date. The most important such usages are ones that go to unusual destinations or pay a special rate. Above: double the 30-cent airmail rate to England in 1944. Prices: mostly very inexpensive, but some modern usages can be worth as much as $1,000 or more.
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19th Century Postal History
Stamps used on covers in the 1800's. They can be as inexpensive as $5 each, or can be worth into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Always check with an experienced collector if you ever discover these older covers.
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Advertising Covers
Covers bearing a printed cachet that serve to advertise the products/services of the company from which the cover was sent. Here the New York Central Railroad advertises its famous 20th Century Limited passenger train. Prices from a dollar into the low hundreds.
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Censored Mail
Wartime conditions dictated that, in a country that was at war, any mail that traveled outside that country had to be read and approved by censors. Above: U.S. cover sent to Australia in 1940. Prices from $5 to over $500.
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19th Century Business Mail
Covers that bear the printed return address of a business. Shown here: the two-cent 1983 U.S. Columbian stamp pays the two-cent letter rate from Cleveland, Ohio, to Chicago, Ill. Prices range from $5 to hundreds.
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Foreign Stamps On Cover
Choose your country! Millions of covers exist from around the world and are some of the most colorful collectibles in philately. All prices ranges.
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Civil War Patriotic Covers
Many patriotic cachets exist on the mails used on both the Union and  Confederate sides during this war. Some are extremely colorful and often very expensive. Prices: from around $25 to over $10,000.