In the main we produce commemorative covers, which as the word suggests commemorate a person, place, object, event or theme. As we are primarily aviation based ours commemorate either historical military people, RAF bases, aircraft, military as well as battles, first flights and such like. The other type of cover commonly seen is first day covers, which bear stamps issued by Royal Mail (or any post office that issues stamps ) cancelled on first day of issue of the stamps.

A cover is made up of various parts; mainly the stamp(s), postmark and artwork.

With commemorative covers the stamps are often definitive issues, ie those with just the Queen’s head, but often where possible a commemorative stamp that compliments the cover is often used.

The postmark used can vary from a special handstamp which has been sponsored for the anniversary through to a simple cancellation, with just the date and post town. We often sponsor handstamps through the British Forces Post Office (BFPO) who grant us the use of a BFPS numbered handstamp, which is applied at their barracks at Mill Hill, North London.

The artwork of the cover is probably the most important part for most customers, this gives the cover its appeal to the collector as poor artwork will often be reflected in poor sales. In the main virtually all our artwork is specially commissioned from one of our artists, and in recent years a number of our covers feature full cover artwork (ie the artwork covers the entire envelope) to make more of an impact.

In addition to the above, there are other facts that can be added to the basic cover, for example many of our covers are flown in aircraft to add a little bit of interest and to go the extra mile, which of course gives rise to the name flown covers as they are popularly called.

To add further interest, and in many cases value, a signature can be added, usually by someone connected to the theme or issue. In our case we are always looking for the most appropriate signature for the particular cover and it is not unknown for us to end up sending the covers to the other side of the world so that they can be hand signed by the VIP we would like.

Mentioning signatures it is worth checking whether the signature is hand signed and genuine as it is not unknown for facsimile or fake signatures to be added, although we would always add that with us, if we say it is signed by someone then it is and to this end we are members of the  UACC Registered Dealer  scheme so to assure collectors can rely on the fact our signatures are genuine.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that most covers issued by producers form part of a series and are normally give a reference number so collectors can file them away in albums in the correct order.