Cachet

A cachet (pronounced ka-SHAY, from the French for “seal” or “stamp”) is a design added to an envelope to mark the occasion for which it was mailed. It sits alongside the stamp and postmark but is not part of either. Cachets are most closely associated with first day covers, but they also appear on airmail flight covers, ship covers, exhibition covers and event covers.

What a Cachet Looks Like

A cachet can be:

• Printed — the most common form, produced in quantity by cover manufacturers, postal administrations or societies.
• Rubber-stamped — typical of early flight and event covers.
• Engraved — some manufacturers produced high-quality engraved cachets that echo the look of recess-printed stamps.
• Hand-painted or hand-drawn — produced one at a time by artists, often in very small numbers.

The cachet normally illustrates the subject of the stamp or event — a portrait, a building, an aircraft — and may include descriptive text.

Cachets and First Day Covers

On a first day cover, the cachet makes the envelope a finished piece of design. Collectors often specialise by cachet maker (the company or artist who produced the design), and early makers’ work is collected in its own right. An uncacheted first day cover — a plain envelope with the stamp and first-day postmark — is usually worth less than a cacheted one of the same issue.

A first cachet is the first design produced by a particular maker, and these are popular with specialists.

Other Kinds of Cacheted Cover

• Flight covers carry cachets recording the first flight of an air route, often applied at departure or arrival.
• Naval and ship covers carry cachets from particular vessels, voyages or events.
• Event and exhibition covers mark stamp shows, anniversaries and local celebrations.
• Polar and expedition covers carry cachets from research stations and expeditions.

Value Factors

A cachet’s appeal depends on its maker, age, design quality, rarity and condition. Colour, registration and clean printing matter, as does whether the cachet has been added later — some covers are “recacheted” by adding a design to an older envelope, which should be disclosed by the seller.