The main 5″x7″ design of the Dragon Cards™; is printed but not yet cut, but the label cachets for the postcard combos are printed and cut. Note that the cachet labels for the postcards are two different sizes and slightly different designs. Scott UX52 and other 1965 postal cards (as they were called then) were smaller than 1978 issues like UX52. The building is Anderson Hall on the academy campus.
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.
[press release]
The 1948 Wisconsin Statehood Centennial Issue: Making, Celebrating and Using the Stamp, by John A, Paré and Ralph H. Nafziger, is the 2025 winner of the American First Day Cover Society’s annual Philip H. Ward, Jr., Memorial Award for Excellence in First Day 
Cover Literature.
The 154-page book, published by The Collectors Club of Chicago, begins with a short history of Wisconsin, followed by the development of the stamp (Scott 957) from an idea to the finished product. It then traces the activities surrounding the first day in Madison and six cachetmakers whose first or only cachets were for this issue. It also includes a list of all known cachets for this issue and price ranges of their values, biographies of the cachetmakers and color illustrations of most of them.
Nafziger is a retired research chemist/research supervisor at the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Mines. He lives in Oregon and is Executive Vice President of the AFDCS. Paré is a retired U.S. Navy captain and high school vice principal who lives in Wisconsin.
The book, which won a Vermeil award at the Chicagopex 2025 literature competition, is available from the Collectors Club of Chicago, 1029 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL 60610 for $45 (hard copy) or $15 (eBook). Visit www.collectorsclubchicago.org The book is also available on Amazon.
Mark Thompson’s book Women of the Black Heritage Series: from the Fields of Slavery to the Halls of Congress was the 2025 runner-up for the Ward Award. It is available from Amazon.
Philip Henry Ward, Jr., began servicing first day covers in 1909. An electrical engineer by 
trade, he wrote on new issues for The American Philatelist, Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News and The Weekly Philatelic Gazette in the early 20th century.
The American First Day Cover Society is a not-for-profit educational organization. In addition to publishing its journal First Days, the AFDCS also publishes handbooks and catalogues, and promotes the collecting of both modern and “classic” issues and cachets, as well as exhibiting FDCs. It offers awards for outstanding first day cover exhibits and an annual contest for cachetmakers, and is a co-host of the annual Great American Stamp Show.
For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057.
[press release]
It will be the biggest cachetmakers bourse of the year! All day, Saturday August 8. And the 
new Diagonal U.S. Flag stamped envelope will be issued at the show the day before.
Americover 2026 is being held in conjunction with BALPEX 2026 at the BWI Marriott in Linthicum Heights, Maryland (Baltimore-Washington Airport).
The contract can be downloaded by clicking here. Tables are $75 each and will be set up in the foyer outside the dealer bourse. American First Day Cover Society or American 
Philatelic Society membership is required. Space is limited and subject to prior sale. You’ll find more details in the contract.
Cachetmakers Bourse dealers are only allowed to sell material they have made themselves.
This will be the top selling opportunity for FDC producers this year, so don’t miss out. Sign up today!
Nothing major, but in the December 27, 2025, issue of the Postal Bulletin, the entry for the 2026 Love stamps has slightly-revised guidelines for obtaining first-day postmarks by mail:
Change of language:
Traditional Black and White Postmarks:
Customers may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™ or at The Postal Store® website at usps.com/shop. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their 
choice, address envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope and mail to the above address.
After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service™ will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50.
Customers can also submit collectable paper items or memorabilia of their choice 
for a black and white cancellation. The request should include packaging large enough to accommodate their cancelled items along with sufficient postage affixed for the return of their postmarked item.
If the cancelled item is not mailable by First-Class, and return packaging with postage is not provided, the order must include a way to contact the customer for payment to return cancelled items. Payment for quantities greater than 50 cancels and/or postage for shipping must be submitted by check, money order, or credit card.
Digital Color Postmarks:
Only select stamp issues offer a digital color postmark. Digital color postmarks can only be affixed to paper products. Customers may submit #6 or #10 envelopes 
constructed of paper rated as “laser safe.” The Postal Service™ recommends envelopes of 80-pound Accent Opaque, acid-free, 9/16-inch side seams with no glue on the flap. The maximum size of all digital color postmarks is 2 inches (vertically) by 4 inches (horizontally). Allow sufficient space on the envelope to accommodate the postmark. Do not use self-adhesive labels for addresses on the envelope. Two test envelopes must be included. There is a 50-cent charge per postmark at the time of servicing. Customers must submit a check, money order, or credit card for payment.
The Postal Service reserves the right to not accept hand-painted and other cachet 
envelopes that are not compatible with our digital color postmark equipment. The Postal Service also reserves the right to substitute traditional black rubber postmarks if use of non-specified envelopes results in poor image quality or damage to equipment.
Customers must affix the stamps to the envelopes and address them to themselves or others for return through the mail. Or they may include an additional self-addressed return envelope, large enough to accommodate their canceled items, with sufficient postage affixed for return of their postmarked items.
All first-day postmarks:
After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes to the customer by U.S. Mail®.
The Boston 2026 team wants to see — and show — your cachets for the Boston 2026 stamps that came out in August!
It will post images of some or all of the FDCs on its social media sites. The offer is open 
only to AFDCS members.
If you wish to participate, send .jpg images — ideally, 1080×1080 or a vertical format — to Boston 2026 social media coordinator Julie Dennehy, dennehypr@gmail.com with this information:
Artist Name and AFDCS Member #
Cachet line name
City/State/Country:
Medium Used:
Quantity Made:
Email:
Web Site/Social Media:
As an example:
Artist Name, AFDCS Member #: Lloyd de Vries, #LM381
Cachet line name: Dragon Cards
City/State/Country: Twp of Washington, NJ, USA
Medium Used: Commercial digital press
Quantity Made: 88
Email: DragonCards@pobox.com
Web Site/Social Media: www.dragoncards.biz
And a personal tip: If you produced more than one design, I recommend you show the best or the best or the one you most want to sell!
[press release]
AFDCS Chooses BALPEX for Its 2026 Convention
The American First Day Cover Society, the world’s largest not-for-profit FDC collecting organization, will hold its Americover 2026 exhibition and annual convention in conjunction 
with BALPEX 2026, the Maryland World Series of Philately show. The dates are August 7-9, at the BWI Airport Marriott Hotel in Linthicum Heights, Md.
For the past four years, Americover has been part of Great American Stamp Show, of which the AFDCS is a co-sponsor with the American Philatelic Society and American Topical Association. However, “GASS” will not be held in 2026 because of the Boston 2026 international exhibition and the AFDCS decided it wanted to continue its streak of 71 consecutive annual conventions.
That means the hotel will be hosting two WSP exhibitions that weekend, BALPEX’s and Americover. A single jury will judge both.
The Baltimore Philatelic Society has sponsored the BALPEX show and exhibition since the 1930s. Its 2017 Grand Award exhibit, “Colonial Central America” by James Mazepa, won the APS Champion of Champions competition for that year. The BWI Airport Marriott has a free shuttle from the airport and there is a free shuttle from the Amtrak BWI station to the airport.
From 1993 to 2019, the AFDCS held Americover as an independent show at locations around the country. It became a World Series of Philately exhibition in 2005. Although it will have a booth, meetings and seminars at Boston 2026, “we felt holding Americover at BALPEX would be a better fit for us than the International,” said AFDCS president Lloyd A. de Vries.
“We are happy to have the AFDCS join us for BALPEX 2026, and look forward to a great show,” said Richard Taschenberg, BALPEX exhibits chairman and program coordinator.
The American First Day Cover Society is a not-for-profit educational organization. It publishes its bimonthly award-winning journal First Days as well as handbooks and catalogues and maintains a YouTube channel. The AFDCS also promotes the collecting of both modern and “classic” issues and cachets, as well as exhibiting FDCs. It offers awards for outstanding first day cover exhibits and an annual contest for cachetmakers, and is a co-host of the annual Great American Stamp Show.
For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057.
Awards in the recent American First Day Cover Society cachetmaking contest for 2024 issues went to three mother-daughter pairs and one father-mother-daughter family unit. We also missed a grandfather/granddaughter combo at first, because of the difference in 
last names.
And the top award went to a brother-sister collaboration: Doug George and his sister Jennifer MacLellan, both of Massachusetts, produced what the judges decided was the best cachet of the year, a first day cover that was a booklet with a tiny embroidered baseball jersey for the Hank Aaron issue. It was also the winner in the Esoteric category. (Photo on the left.)
Marrah Reichert who tied for first place in the Juniors 10 and Under category, is Kevin Colton‘s granddaughter. Last year, he won the overall Top Cachet award. This year, his Holiday Joy FDCs won second in Se-Tenant Covers, third for the Big Dog Race in Event Covers, and he continued his domination of Foreign Covers with first- and second-place wins. But that’s Marrah’s Lunar New Year FDC shown here. She’s now 11 but was 10 when she produced this cachet.
Carolyn Marks designed the Miscellaneous Medium category winner for Shaker Design, while daughters Annajoy and Katelyn took home their own plaques for Juniors Ages 11 to 17 for, respectively, Bluegrass and Pinback Buttons. That’s Annajoy, Katelyn and Carolyn, left to right, in the photo.
Mother Amy Scolieri won Rookie of 
the Year honors, while daughter Genivieve placed second in Juniors Ages 10 and Younger. That’s Amy and Genivieve in the photo. Father Gregory Scolieri won second and third in Hand-Drawn/Hand-Colored/Hand-Painted. (His photo is below.)
Tricia Richmond won in the Printed Artwork/Design, Multicolored and Noncommercial categories, while adult daughter Darcy Richmond took second place Miscellaneous Medium and third in Noncommercial. The Richmonds were not able to attend Americover/Great American Stamp Show 2025, where the awards were presented.
There’s even a father-daughter connection of sorts. Arianna Calle, now a college student, has won in the Junior categories in the past. This 
year, she placed second in the Hand-Colored/Hand-Painted and Printed from Original Artwork, first and second in Hand-Colored/Hand-Painted and Printed from Non-Original Artwork, and first in the Printed/Single-Color. Her father Chris provided the artwork for the second-place Event cover of the year. (Chris ran the contest, but swears he did not get involved in Arianna’s categories. But he did get to flash a big smile while holding two of her awards.)
Back to that George family: Doug won first and third in the Hand-Colored/Hand-Painted and Printed from Original Artwork category, second and a tie for third in single-color, first place on his own in Duck covers and third in a collaboration in that category, and first and third in the Se-Tenant issues category. Sister Jennifer, on her own, won third place in Esoteric.
“Both my sister and I were shocked and amazed that we won the Top Cachetmaker award this year,” Doug told The Virtual Stamp Club. “Just being able to work with my brother and connect and learn from him is rewarding enough,” added Jennifer.
“The Hank Aaron booklet design was all Doug’s idea,” she said. ” It was great to see his vision come together.”
The Hank Aaron FDC combines her embroidery wizardry with other cachetmaking 
techniques.
We promised you a photo of Gregory Scolieri, here receiving his award from competition chair Chris Calle.
You can see the complete (illustrated) list of winners here on The Virtual Stamp Club, starting here.
Photos courtesy of Doug George.
Now available:
This was a common technique for the networks: They would move a show they wanted to dump around the schedule, often to unpopular time slots. Fans had trouble finding and watching these shows, so of course their ratings dropped.
Another reason for declining ratings for a show such as White was if the Southern affiliates didn’t carry the show, fewer people watched it and of course (again) the ratings dropped.
Stations do not have to carry a network’s shows. Often, if a show is doing poorly in the ratings, they will opt for something with a guaranteed income that they don’t have to share with the network. Even the network-owned stations, such as WCBS or KNBC, are free to drop the network shows for, say, “The Billy Graham Hour.”
[press release]
AFDCS Honors Tom Mueller with Holiday Cachet
The American First Day Cover Society in 2024 is honoring cachet artist Tom Mueller as its Court of Honor cachetmaker. The Santa Claus cachet is taken from a 1991 cover for the Holiday Celebrations issue with Santa in a chimney (Sc. 2579).
AFDCS Court of Honor No. 44 (an example of which is shown on the right) was serviced with singles of all the U.S. holiday issues, including Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, and with all of this year’s holiday first-day postmarks. They are available for sale in the Marketplace section of the AFDCS website, www.afdcs.net/AFDCS-Marketplace
Mueller, a self-taught Midwestern artist, began producing his hand-painted “Silverwing” cachets in 1990 (Dwight Eisenhower, Sc. 2513), and continued designing for new issues until 2006, concentrating then on add-on cachets. Most are one of a kind. His 1991 
cachet for the Basketball stamp (Sc. 2560) won the top award in the AFDCS Cachet Contest and his work was featured in a gold-medal exhibit by Anthony Dewey shown at St. Louis Stamp Expo this past March. Nearly three dozen of his family members attended the show to celebrate his philatelic career. (photo left. Dewey is second from the left in the back row)
An article on Mueller by Patrick Morgan (on the left in the blue polo shirt) appeared in the November-December 2021 issue of First Days, the official journal of the AFDCS.
The Court of Honor series commemorates cachet artists who have, over the years, contributed so much to the hobby through the beauty of their art. It began in 1981 and the
The original 1991 FDC
first artist honored was Ralph Dyer. There has been a new Court of Honor FDC every year since then. Stamps with Christmas themes are used because the U.S. issues new ones every year. A different artist is selected each year.
Many of the earlier years’ covers are also available.
The AFDCS is the largest not-for-profit first day cover society in the world, with members in more than a dozen countries. In addition to publishing First Days and handbooks, catalogues and You-Tube videos, the society is a co-sponsor of the annual Great American Stamp Show. It holds an annual cachetmaking contest and two mail auctions a year, 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 57, Somerset, WI 54025-0057
