The American First Day Cover Society’s latest fund-raising auction is now online: All 1,200 lots are illustrated in color at www.afdcs.org/auction98/98index.html The sale will close a minute before midnight on June 23, 2024.

The lots offered range from a matched set of George Washington Bicentennial (Sc. 704-715) FDCs with the seldom-seen William Rabin cachet (Lot 28, shown on the right) to bulk lots (“Bundles of Fun”). Lot 388 is an Express Mail booklet pane of 3 (Sc. 1909a) on a House of Farnam variety (shown below left). Another lot has a rare variety of the first ArtCraft cachet (for the New York World’s Fair stamp, Sc. 853. Featured cachetmakers in this auction are Bevil, Collins, 6º, Carruthers Hays, Doris Gold (including artwork), Pugh, Carol Gordon, Crosby, Fluegel, and Peterman.

The offerings are not just first day covers: There are presidential inauguration covers dating back to 1929, as well as ceremony programs, first-day postmarked ephemera, and oversized FDCs and cards.

These auctions are held twice a year, with all the lots donated to the organization. Bidding is open to non-members as well as members, and bids may be submitted by regular mail, email, or — easiest of all — the “webform” on the website. The Terms of Sale can be found at www.afdcs.org/auction.html

The AFDCS is the largest not-for-profit first day cover society in the world, with members in more than a dozen countries. It publishes an award-winning journal, First Days, six times a year, as well as handbooks, catalogues and You-Tube videos, and is a co-sponsor of the annual Great American Stamp Show. It holds an annual cachetmaking contest (many of whose winners are offered in this auction) and encourages philatelic exhibiting and writing about FDCs.

For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 27, Greer, SC 29652-0027.