What is the deal with cancelling stamps?

Question

I'm supposed to be writing about addressed envelopes, but I don't understand the concept of these first day covers/canceling stamps thing...

From what I understand:

On the first day a stamp is released (which is actually the next day because all stamps are released first in the town they are related to, and then everywhere else), you're supposed to buy the new stamp and affix it to these special envelopes (cacheted envelopes) with an image related to the new stamp. You put this stamp in another envelope, and then you send this envelope to the town where the stamp was first released.

Once it gets there, the post master cancels the stamp and returns it to you.

My questions are: Why are the stamps canceled? What purpose does it serve to cancel stamps? Why are they returned to you? What is the actual purpose of a cacheted envelope?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Why are the stamps canceled? What purpose does it serve to cancel stamps?

All stamps that carry mail get canceled so that they cannot be reused.  That's how stamps have worked since their invention in 1840.  Cancellations can also be important because their date proves when the letter was mailed when there is a question about that.

Why are they returned to you?  

Because you want the canceled stamps and the envelope they carried.  To be perfectly general, they aren't necessarily returned to you, they are sent to the address on the cacheted envelope -- sometimes people have first day covers sent to their friends or customers.

What is the actual purpose of a cacheted envelope?  

To be decorative.  A plain envelope would work just as well for the purpose (collecting the first day cancellation) but collectors like the extra visual appeal that the cachets provide.

Part of the confusion here seems to arise from the way first day covers are presently produced.  Perhaps some history is in order.  The whole point of first day covers is that date of the cancellation is the first day that the particular stamp was available for postage. What collectors are really after is an example of the stamp canceled on the day it was first issued. Originally there was no provision for collectors or even special cancellations -- if you wanted a first day cover you went to the post office on the day the stamps were first available, bought some, put them on an evelope addressed to yourself or someone who was interested in such things and mailed it the same day, so the postmark would be the first day of issue.

Later, when collecting first day covers became more popular, the post office allowed collectors to send envelopes in advance to the city where the stamp was being issued along with enough money to cover the cost of the stamps.  The post office then affixed the new stamps and canceled them on the first day of issue and sent them to the address on the envelope.  Some collectors used plain envelopes to do this, some made their own cachets by hand, others bought commercially produced cacheted envelopes.

Some years ago the post office got tired of sticking on the stamps for people, so currently you buy the stamps after the first day of issue, put them on the evelopes yourself (cacheted or whatever), and send them to the city where the stamp was issued where the post office cancels them with a special first-day-of-issue cancellation (which isn't really the day they get canceled -- a dubious practice I think) and sends them to whatever address the collector has put on them.  This service is available for only a short time after the real first day of issue.