People often ask me what I collect. The answer is my own Dragon Cards, ZIP Block FDCs, cachets with an “official” tie-in of some sort, and “whatever catches my fancy.” My “fancy” is “caught” most often at shows, especially the American First Day Cover Society’s Americovers. I attended two shows in August 2026, Americover/BALPEX and NAPEX, and here are some of my “finds.” This one, for Sc. 6099 American Bison, was the talk of Americover. It’s by KSC Cachets (Kevin Colton) and “commemorates” the July 2026 incident where a bison at Yellowstone National Park, annoyed by a photographer, charged a 63-year-old man and his grandson. The grandfather got between the animal and the boy, and was thrown into the air. He suffered a broken leg and is recovering (or recovered by the time you read this), so we can make light of it — and Kevin did. As is often the case when I am at the AFDCS table, I see FDCs I like (and, yes, even though I’m the president, I pay for them. Most of the time.) This AFDCS cachet is by Doug George, using Artificial Intelligence. Until I looked up the Scott catalog number, I was calling this “Wetlands Runoff.” It was in boxes of common or uncacheted FDCs donated to the AFDCS and were free for the taking at Americover. The unusual stamp placement intrigued me. Someone in the AFDCS Facebook group explained the reason for it: The plate number strip of 5 would have overlapped with the cachet.

It is customary to collect the plate numbers on coil issues as strips of five and that is usually how they are collected on first day covers. The Wetlands stamp was valued at 5 cents, and the first-class rate in 1998 was 32 cents, so seven copies of the stamp were needed to meet the rate. Most FDCs used strips of four and three, or another stamp or stamps to “make the rate.”Another Doug George (Wally Cachets” is his personal cachet tradename) for the AFDCS. I’m told he used an AI program that assembles a group of people into a party, although I imagine any AI program could do it if you write the prompt correctly.

All of those depicted were born on April 18. I recognize Conan O’Brien cutting the cake, but that’s it. How many can you name? And another Doug-George-for-the-AFDCS cachet. When AFDCS Sales has a table at a show where a stamp is being issued, it likes to have FDCs available for sale right away. That wasn’t easy for the “Encore” issue at Boston 2026, whose subject (Mister Rogers) was kept secret until the unveiling. AI to the rescue again, or actually, Doug’s imagination.