Martin (Marty) L. Severe began collecting first day covers* at the ripe young age of fifteen. He vividly recounts the actual event as an unsuccessful attempt at self-servicing his first Artcraft cover (Shakespeare issue of 1964). The Postmaster sent back his request unserviced regretting that FDCs could not be returned under separate cover.

Marty quickly learned proper processing procedures and thereafter began receiving covers on a regular basis. He became enamored with their rich artistic, cultural, educational, geographic, and historical beauty and became forever "hooked" on collecting covers. To this day, Artcraft remains his cachet of choice for their design excellence and consistent high-caliber engravings.

During his late twenties and early thirties, Marty began to expand his basic collection by including the earlier Artcraft FDCs. In this quest, he became perplexed by the huge number of varieties encountered. Hardly a week would pass that did not produce knowledge of another color, size, text, or design variety, not to mention imprinted covers, fakes, and a host of printing errors. Later, he broadened his collecting interests to include miscellaneous, United Nations, and foreign covers. It was frustrating that there were no references available that documented the universe of Artcraft covers and varieties.

Thus, is the motivation for this collector, now in his late forties, to develop and maintain this extensive Artcraft database. He maintains a huge inventory of duplicates which is used for trading and selling. As a "computer freak" he always has a fresh sales and wantlist available for the asking.

An FDC, or "First Day Cover", is an envelope to which a postage stamp is affixed. The postmark or canellation applied to that stamp is dated on the date and at the location that the postage stamp is first placed on sale. Most collectors also want a printed design on the envelope that explains or provides additional information about the stamp. This printed design is called a "cachet". Envelopes, or covers, with postage stamps and cancellations are also issued for various special events such as First Flights, Presidential Inaugurations, Sports, Patriotics, Philatelic Conventions, XMAS, Special Events, etc.